


Camelot Talk Show

by VeronicaFerCard



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-09
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-15 02:23:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1287709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeronicaFerCard/pseuds/VeronicaFerCard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin Ambrosious is London’s most famous sorcerer, having lost his father on The Great Purge when he was a child, Merlin swore to always fight for his kind and their rights. Now, years later, when his best friend and co-host on the talk show Camelot, the High Priestess Morgana LeFay, goes missing after a series of mysterious attacks against people with magic, Merlin is forced to work with Morgana’s half brother. But Arthur Pendragon is not an easy man to deal with. Haunted by the ghosts of his family’s past, Arthur is a former detective who chose to fall in ostracism after a job gone wrong. Now they must put their differences aside to save Morgana and avoid a second magic world war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

__

_“The Great Purge was a series of attacks and riots against people with magic during the 80’s. It all started with a campaign led by Senator Uther Pendragon who, after the death of his wife in childbirth, began the propaganda against the magic folk by saying they were a danger to society. These campaigns had thousands of followers worldwide. There were riots on the streets, people started to burn things, buildings and even other people. All the while, the magic folk fought to defend themselves the best way they could. Their voice in the United Kingdom was the pro-magic activist Balinor Emrys. A man who literally gave his life to the cause, for it was only after his death – a coward attack where at least dozen man opened fire to Emrys’ house – it was only after this man’s life was taken from him in front of his wife and his five year old son, that the six years of this unreasonable persecution known as The Great Purge were put to an end. Bills were passed in the United Kingdom to secure the rights of those who have any magical abilities. But was that enough? On the rest of the world there are still countries were magic users are persecuted and even here-”_

Merlin reached for the remote control and turned off the television in front of him.

“No! We’re not going to show this. I told you, I’m not going to play the victim.” He looked at the four pairs of eyes staring back at him. Morgana was furious, Gwen and Lance, as the producers of the show were both looking like they could do with some good hours of sleep. Gwaine, their director, was somewhere else entirely; Merlin envied the man’s ability to sleep with his eyes open and still look like he was paying attention. If Merlin didn’t know him for years he would have been fooled.

“Well, we need a topic for next week, and _it is_ the anniversary of your father’s death. Anyway, you said I was free to choose, so I’m choosing it. Do you have any idea how long it took me to do that?” Morgana pointed at the TV’s black screen.

“ _Well,_ I revoke that right if you’re going to exploit my personal life.” Merlin could feel a headache forming itself at the back of his eyes; he rubbed their corners with his thumb and forefinger. Fighting with Morgana was no good, especially when they were about to go live in a few minutes, so he tried to school himself. “Listen, Morgana --”

“No, Merlin. It’s not just _your_ story, this is --”

“Guys, guys! We have no time for this now; you have to get ready, both of you.” Merlin, and as he could see from the corner of his eyes, Morgana, Lance and Gwen too, were staring at Gwaine who apparently had woken up in the middle of their discussion, just in time to save their arses. When he noticed that no one was moving Gwaine raised his voice, “Now!”

Gwen shook herself and glanced at her wristwatch. “Oh my God, he’s right. Guys, this is going to have to wait until our next meeting. But, by the way,” she continued as they left the room, “I’m with Merlin on this.”

From behind him, Merlin heard Morgana slamming the door of her dressing room. He winced. It was going to be a long night.

\---

“And now, ladies and gentleman, I present you an actual 21st century heroine. This woman saved a bus with twenty seven people in it, including five children and a pregnant woman, by teleporting said bus to a save, secret location. These people have magic abilities of all kinds and they were going to be executed for it.” Morgana waited for the audience’s gasp and then continued, “Believe it or not, this is the law in her country. Ladies and gentleman, the Nigerian heroine: Sarima Abeni!”

Morgana rose to her feet and the audience applauded as a dark skinned woman in her forties wearing a yellow dress entered the stage. Merlin was behind the cameras sitting next to Gwaine, this was Morgana’s part of the show. He preferred to talk politics, while she stayed with the sobbing stories. Everyone was more than happy with that agreement, except when Morgana decided to put the two of them together. Merlin’s entire childhood was built of sobbing stories involving politics; he had no desire to sit on the guest couch.

The Camelot Talk Show studio was a simple room, with two armchairs and a couch in light colours, in front of them stood a coffee table where they put water and, more often than not thanks to Morgana, tissues for the guests. Behind the seats was a wall with a fake window showing the night in London. The program was on once a week at 7pm. They started on Mondays but after a few months they were moved to Thursdays. Their audience was bigger now. They had been on for almost five years, talking about people with magic for people with magic. The Camelot Talk Show had even been nominated to an Award once, for the good service they’ve been doing for their community. Merlin was really proud of himself and his crew, they were little by little making a difference for his kind.

In front of him, Morgana was showing pictures of Sarima’s community, as the woman explained the condition magical people lived in. There was someone crying way too loud behind Merlin. He nudged Gwaine.

“Make sure it’s not interfering with our audio”. Gwaine went to talk to someone in the sound department and came back a few minutes later.

“It’s okay, mics above the audience are off.” He sat on his chair again and crossed his arms over his chest.

“So, uh, what do you think?”

“I think she’s hot.” Gwaine grinned.

“No, not about the woman,” Merlin said, shaking his head. “About Morgana wanting to show my story,” he clarified.

 Merlin already had Gwen on his side, which basically meant he also had Lance’s support, since Lance hardly went against his wife. Now Merlin just needed Gwaine’s vote and Morgana would have to change her mind.

Gwaine scratched the scruff on his cheek and turned his head so that he could face Merlin. “Would it really be that bad, Ems? I mean”, he continued quickly, seeing that Merlin was about to protest, “it’s an important part of History. It’s not just about you, mate.”

Merlin sighed.

“I just… I don’t want to play the victim. This is not the image I want for myself. I don’t want to be the poor bloke who lost his dad. I fought very hard to avoid that.” He grabbed his papers and rose from the chair, Morgana’s interview was almost over and after the break it would be his time to talk.

From behind him, Gwaine asked, “But wasn’t that what got you started?”

\---

“Welcome back to The Camelot Talk Show. Now, I know we’re not the BBC News, but some things just can’t be ignored. Janine Adams was a prostitute. She’s been missing for several weeks now. You may ask, _why should I care_?” Merlin slid his body a little closer to the edge of his seat. “First of all, everyone should care, because she’s a human being, and she might be hurt. Second, she’s also magic.

“Janine had the ability to turn into the person her clients desired, male or female. And before anyone assume that she might be dangerous, that she might impersonate someone to, I don’t know, have access to their bank accounts, you can forget that. Janine’s power only worked during intercourse. She was harmless,” he said, going back to his original position on the armchair.

“By now you must have realised she’s dead.  Last night a body was found floating on the Thames. That body was Janine Adams. She was the fifth person with magic to be found dead in the last three weeks. I wonder how many more are necessary until the government and the police start to do something.”

Merlin waited for Gwaine to sign _three, two, one_ with his fingers and continued:

“The woman on your screen is Janine Adams. She was loved and she was important. So I ask, what is getting in the way of the police’s investigation: the fact that she was a prostitute or the fact that she had magic? I’m Merlin Ambrosious and I am waiting for answers.” Merlin’s eyes were fixed on the camera as if he were looking at all the politicians and police officers he blamed for that woman’s death. He mentally counted to five and said his goodbyes to the audience. Next to him Morgana did the same. There was a small TV on the floor next to the cameramen and from the corner of his eyes Merlin could see it showing the credits. They were going off in a few seconds. His head was going to explode.

\---

“Ugh!” Morgana slammed the lid of her laptop with more strength than necessary, she heard a crack but now she wasn’t worried about that. She was frustrated.

She needed a new script for next week’s show.

But the problem was: she _already had one_. If only Merlin wasn’t so thick headed…

The Great Purge was an excellent theme, and fitting, since its anniversary was coming. But Merlin was too afraid to expose his life.

Morgana sighed as she got up and started to put everything she was going to take home need inside her purse. It was almost 2am. She would deal with it tomorrow, _later today_ , she thought. _Oh, Merlin, Merlin._ She couldn’t understand her friend sometimes. He was on the good side. If people knew who _her_ father was she would not have the acceptance she had on the magic community. But Merlin… his dad was a hero, and yet he chose to fight with his own banners. He even began to use a Roman version of his last name. Merlin was too proud to use someone else as a ladder to success,  even if said someone was his father and no one would judge him if he did. She smiled. He was like Arthur.

Morgana had never met Arthur in person, but he often appeared in her dreams. He was a good person, she knew that, but his views on magic were too much like Uther’s for them to be friends.

There was a noise and suddenly the lights went off. Morgana was just glad she wasn’t inside the elevator. She tried to magically turn the lights on but nothing happened. She wasn’t surprised. She could light fires, but electricity was something else entirely. _Oh if only this was the middle ages and we had torches instead of light bulbs._ She remembered her phone had a flashlight, but it was inside her purse and she would need lights to find anything in there. She gave up and kept walking; she knew the building and the front doors weren’t far. Another noise attracted Morgana’s attention to something behind her.

“Someone there?” She looked over her shoulder. Most of the crew had left together to celebrate someone’s birthday and Merlin had gone home earlier because of a headache. She was supposed to be alone. She heard footsteps coming from her left, a chill ran down her spine. “Okay, who the fuck is there? Gwaine? This is not funny!”

It happened too quickly for her to do anything, she felt the needle penetrating the skin on her neck and then everything went black.

\---

“Morgana!” Merlin’s body jutted up to a sitting position so fast he almost broke his spine.  He had gone to bed as soon he got home and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Now he was disoriented. He looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand, 2:15. “What?” It was only after he got out of the bed that he noticed he was sweating. He went to the bathroom and washed his face. He looked at his reflection on the mirror, dark circles under his eyes, pale skin. “No wonder you’re single.” He went back to his room and sat on the bed. “Now Morgana, why the fuck did you woke me up?” As soon as he said it he realised. The binding spell. Morgana didn’t wake him up. The spell did.

Morgana’s phone went straight to voice mail. She wasn’t home either. It was almost 4am and Merlin didn’t know where else to look. When he got to the building where they worked the only thing he found was her purse on the floor next to the reception desk. Merlin took it and left the building, nothing there would help him. He thought about contacting their friends but he knew there was nothing they could do either.

Merlin got to his car and let his magic guide him. The binding spell was meant to protect them. As soon as they noticed the pattern on the attacks against the magic folk, Merlin decided to unite his magic with Morgana’s so that they could protect each other. His magic was going to lead him to Morgana. Or so he thought.

He drove all night. The sun was already up when he stopped the car. He was still being guided when he opened the door and walked to the front door of the big white house in front of him. He rang the bell.

“This better be really important,” was the first thing the shirtless man who opened the door said to Merlin. The man was also barefoot, and blond and bloody gorgeous. _Oh, great!_ Apparently Morgana had been kidnapped by a Greek god. “Can I help you, uh, Mr. Ambrosious?”

Okay, so maybe Merlin’s first thought may or may not have been, _oh God, he knows my name_ , but then he got control of himself again and remembered why he was there and asked:

“Where is she?” He crossed his arms, but then he thought that might give the message that he was on defensive mode, trying to protect himself. So he uncrossed them and let his arms fall to his sides.

“Where is who?”  And now Adonis was the one crossing his arms.

“My friend, Morgana. What have you done to her?”

“Morgana? Morgana LeFay?” Merlin nodded. “As in your co-host, Morgana?” He looked puzzled. Merlin sighed internally, so pretty, so dumb. He was about to say so when the man continued, “You mean my sister. What happened to her?”

“Oh, my God! You’re Arthur!” Merlin slapped his own forehead in realisation. Of course! Morgana didn’t know Arthur personally but she knew things about him and she had told Merlin. Arthur was a detective. Merlin’s magic might not know where Morgana was, but it knew how to find her. “You’re a detective! Brilliant!” Arthur kept staring at him and Merlin realised he was probably waiting for Merlin to explain the meaning of his visit. “I need your help. Can I come in?”

“Yeah, sure.” Arthur stepped aside to give Merlin space to pass. The man even smelled nice. Merlin was just happy that he wasn’t lusting over Morgana’s kidnapper. Brother or even a half-brother that she never really met was a much less awkward situation. “Uh, I’m going to put on a shirt. Do you want some tea?” Arthur said after closing the door behind Merlin. “You make yourself comfortable.” He left the room without waiting for an answer.

“Prat,” Merlin whispered.

“I heard that.” Arthur’s voice came from somewhere inside the house.

Merlin sat on the edge of the big grey sofa. There were two armchairs on each side of it; they were all facing a big flat screen TV. There were also big windows on the walls. No paintings. He couldn’t see much of the rest of the house aside from the stairs which led to the second floor and the corridor through which Arthur had disappeared. He came back minutes later wearing a black T-shirt, jeans and slippers, and carrying a tray with two mugs, sugar and milk in it.

“So, what happened?” He put the tray on the coffee table and sat on one of the armchairs.

“It’s what I’m trying to figure it out. I’ve been looking for her since 2am. She’s vanished.” Merlin took one of the mugs; he added some sugar to his tea and blew it a little before taking a sip. Arthur did the same, but he also put milk on his.

“Have you gone to the police, then?”

Merlin shook his head in disbelieve.

“Have you seen the news lately? All they do is find bodies. This is not a situation we can trust them.” He put the mug back on the tray; he was starting to feel nauseous. Maybe the combination of lack of sleep and worry was finally catching up with him.

“Are you okay? You look a little pale?” Arthur sounded really concerned. He put his mug aside as well. “Fine, no police, then. So, I’m guessing this has to do with her magic.” Merlin nodded. “But why did you think she was here? I don’t know how much you know about us, but we’ve never met.”

“I know. It’s just. My magic, it brought me here.” At Arthur’s confused look Merlin explained, “When we noticed the pattern on the attacks we decided we needed to protect ourselves. My magic is stronger than Morgana’s so I did this binding spell. I never used before, all my information comes from outdated books, I don’t actually know how it works. When I let my magic guide me I thought it was taking me to her, turns out it was just leading me to my best option.”

“So you don’t actually know where she is?”

“Not the exact location, no. But I have a feeling. It’s somewhere in the outskirts of London.”

“Okay, okay. Let’s go!” Arthur got up and when Merlin tried to do the same he felt pain.

He screamed.

It felt like someone was trying to rip his soul out of his body by drilling a hole on his skull. He fell to the floor. He put his hands on each side of his head and closed his eyes. Next to him Arthur’s voice seemed to be coming from miles away. Merlin couldn’t understand what he was saying but he felt Arthur’s hands on him, probably trying to calm him down. It wasn’t working.

The pain continued for a couple of minutes more and when it stopped Merlin threw up on Arthur’s carpet.

“Hey, hey.” Arthur was rubbing soothing circles on Merlin’s back. Sometime in the middle of Merlin’s attack he had gone to get a glass of water, which he was now offering to Merlin. He drank the whole thing in one go, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Thanks.” He was out of breath.

“Are you okay? What the hell was that?”

Merlin was far from okay. He didn’t want to think about it. _Oh, God!_ If he weren’t so tired he would be fighting the urge to cry. But right now he didn’t even have enough energy to produce tears. That was the kind of thing he used to have nightmares about when he was a kid. And now when he needed his magic the most…

“Oh, God!” He buried his face on his hands and shook his head. That wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be.

“What is it? Merlin?” Arthur’s voice brought him back to reality; he took his hands off his face and looked at Morgana’s brother.

“The binding spell,” his voice was rough; it hurt his throat when he spoke. “I need magic to find her, to do a location spell. But. I bound my magic to hers.” He shook his head again, his mind was getting clear and it was scaring him. He continued talking; his voice was just a whisper now, “I thought I was protecting us.” Merlin could feel Arthur’s body tensing up next to him. He faced the space on the floor where his vomit was starting to dry.

“Merlin, you’re scaring me. Talk to me, tell me what’s going on.”

Merlin looked at Arthur again, was he really that stupid or he simply didn’t know?

“Her magic is gone, Arthur. I don’t know how. But it’s gone.”

“But she’s still alive, yeah? We can still find her!”

“You don’t understand!” Merlin shouted. “The binding spell. Her magic is gone, Arthur! _It’s gone!_ And so it’s mine!”


	2. Chapter 2

  

“What do you mean it’s gone?” Arthur wasn’t an expert when it came to magic but as far as he knew no one could lose it. It was a part of the person. He even heard stories about people saying that everybody had magic inside themselves; they just needed to learn how to use it.

Arthur sighed. Half an hour ago he was contemplating staying in bed until lunchtime, and then to spend the rest of the day working on his garden. Now he had a celebrity on his couch. A magic celebrity, of all people. And his sister was missing. Never mind he had never met the sister, or that said celebrity’s puke was leaving a stain on his carpet. Arthur felt like he was in some kind of alcohol induced dream.

“Honestly, I have no idea.” Merlin looked tired; he was still as handsome as the version of him Arthur saw on the telly. Not that he was a fan of talk shows or anything, especially ones about magic. But sometimes he got bored, and plus he wanted to see his sister. He had to admit, though. He understood Merlin. For what he saw, the man was trying to make a better life for his kind. Merlin was fighting for what he thought it to be right. Arthur respected that, even if he was still wary when it came to magic.

 One thing was certain, though. Merlin came to him for help. And there was a part of Arthur, the part that had made him join the police in the first place, that just couldn’t avoid aiding those in need.

“What do we do now?”

“We need magic. I need someone with magic.” Merlin tried to get up again but he was too weak and fell back on the sofa.

“I think right now you need to eat.” Merlin was about to protest, but Arthur raised a hand to stop him before he said anything. “Seriously, mate. You can’t even stand on your feet. I’m going to grab something for you to clean up your mess.” He pointed to the stained carpet. “And while you’re at it, I’ll prepare us some breakfast.”

Merlin shook his head a little, probably trying to clear his mind. He looked to where Arthur had pointed and suddenly all the colour came back to his face. His cheekbones turned tomato red.

“Oh! God, sorry! I’m so sorry.” He covered his mouth with his hand; his eyes were wide when he looked at Arthur. “I’ll pay for another carpet.” Merlin fished his phone from his pocked. “Do you know anyone who does this stuff? The people who put it here. Give me their number, maybe --”

“ _Mer_ lin! You’re rambling, it’s fine. Just clean it up.” Merlin had stopped when Arthur said his name and was staring at him; he appeared to be holding his breath. “And breathe.”

“Sorry.” The word came out in a mixture of a sigh with a short laugh, which quickly turned into one of the most blinding smiles Arthur had ever seen. “I clean. You cook. Like a well-functioned married couple.”

Arthur had to laugh at that. “You’re something else, Ambrosious. You are.” He cleared his throat. “Everything you’ll need is in that cupboard under the stairs. There’s a toilet, first door through the corridor. Can I trust you not to get yourself lost inside the house?” He teased with a smile. There was really something about Merlin, it made Arthur feel lighter than he had in years. He was raised by Uther - which meant that, even before everything that had happened with that kid on the job - Arthur wasn’t used to offer smiles or even joke around with strangers. And Merlin _was_ a stranger, never mind he was on Arthur’s television more often than not. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Okay, clotepole. Let’s get to work.”

“That’s not even a word,” Arthur shouted to Merlin from the corridor. When he got to the kitchen he eyed his fridge as if daring it not to be empty. He knew he had to go shopping. He’d been procrastinating that particular activity for days. He wasn’t a recluse like (he knew) some people said, but he wasn’t exactly what one would call it social either. He was fine being on his own. People were too noisy anyway.

When he finally opened the fridge he wasn’t surprised. He wasn’t Merlin or Morgana, he had no magic… or food.

 

Arthur grabbed what he thought it would do for him to make omelettes. Luckily he still had enough bread for toasts. He also made coffee. It was as good as it could get. He hoped Merlin wasn’t one of those eccentric celebrities who only drank French sparkling water or something.

When Arthur got back to the living room with their breakfast he found Merlin kneeling on the floor. He was supporting himself with one elbow while using the other hand to furiously scrub the floor. He seemed to be winning the fight, from where Arthur was standing. Merlin had also finally took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

Merlin’s backside was turned to the corridor. It wasn’t a completely unpleasant vision if Arthur was to be honest with himself. Nope, not bad at all.

“Has anyone ever told you you’d make an excellent manservant?”  Merlin hadn’t heard Arthur coming, he startled. He dropped the cleaning rag and brought the hand that had been holding it to his heart.

“Jesus! Almost gave me a heart attack, prat.”

Arthur threw his head back and laughed. “Sorry, sorry,” he said between laughs. “I couldn’t help it.”

“Well, next time.” Merlin got up and cleaned his hands on his jeans, making a complete mess of himself. Arthur shook his head at the sight, still amused. “Try harder.”

“Next time, uh? So you’re planning on keeping coming to clean my house, should I hire you?” He raised an eyebrow; Merlin put his hand on his hips and raised his right back at Arthur.

“I think I prefer my current job on TV, thanks. Speaking of which.” He sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, Arthur did the same. “I need my co-host if I am to keep my show on air.”

“Surly they wouldn’t forbid you to present by yourself.” He served coffee to himself and Merlin, and gestured for Merlin to help himself to the toast and omelette.

Merlin shook his head. He had just taken a bit of his toast. Arthur waited for him to chew it and swallow. “You don’t understand, Arthur. Without Morgana I don’t want to present at all.”

\---

After they finished eating and Arthur put the dishes on the dishwasher he went upstairs to take a quick shower. He offered Merlin a spare toothbrush. When they were both ready to go they left the house and stopped in front of Merlin’s car.

“I’m gonna take my --”

“I think we should go together.”

They said at the same time.

Arthur scratched the back of his neck.

“Maybe if we split up…”

“No! I was brought here for a reason, you’re coming with me!” Merlin turned his back to Arthur to get inside the car, so he didn’t see Arthur flinch at his words. Arthur knew very well that if Merlin had his powers he could easily _make_ Arthur do whatever he wanted. But for what Arthur saw, right now Merlin had no power so he entered the car.

Arthur didn’t want to call it relief but there really wasn’t a better way to describe it. He felt much more comfortable working with Merlin, knowing the other man couldn’t harm him with magic.

“Where do we start?” Arthur asked after Merlin turned on the engines.

“Well, uh. I have a friend who is good with locating spells. So I think we should start with him. But it might be a bit tricky to find _him.”_

“How so?”

“He’s very good at what he does. And he does it for living. He finds things and people for money. He’s  a bit of a detective.” Merlin smiled to Arthur. “Like you.”

Arthur didn’t return the smile. “No, Merlin. I’m pretty sure he’s nothing like me.” _At least I hope for Morgana’s sake that he isn’t,_ he left unsaid.

\---

Morgana could feel herself slowly becoming more conscious. But there was still a fog inside her mind. She wanted to open her eyes but her eyelids felt too heavy. She wasn’t completely sure she could feel her body. 

There was a constant beep coming from somewhere near her. She couldn’t place anything. Maybe she was in a hospital, maybe she had passed out on the lobby and someone had brought her here. She should call Merlin; someone should tell him where she was.

There was something important she was missing. Morgana couldn’t remember. The fog was taking over her again, it was getting thicker.

 _Merlin_.

He needed to know. She was losing consciousness. She had to tell him. Darkness was taking over.

 _Merlin_.

She was falling. She was falling somewhere deep inside her own mind. He should know.

Morgana was almost completely asleep again when it started. The pain. Someone was drilling a hole on the left side of her head. It hurt so much she started to hallucinate. She was hearing Uther’s voice.

\---

“So, I was thinking… You know my name.” Merlin gave Arthur a cheeky grin. They were almost downtown. Merlin drove fast, and he was a very good driver, Arthur noticed.

“You’re on national television, mate. Everybody knows your name.” Even while he spoke Arthur could feel himself blush.

“Nah, we have a very selective audience. Most of our viewers are magic.” They stopped on a red light. The street was calm for a Friday morning.

“Doesn’t mean normal folk can’t watch.” That wiped the grin from Merlin’s face.

“You’re saying we’re not normal.”

“No. I mean. Just.” The traffic light went green, but Merlin didn’t see it. “Look.” Arthur pointed at the green light.

Merlin sighed. In his hurry he let the car die, but before he could reach for the key to start the ignition he started to scream. He closed his eyes and his body jerked backwards. It was the same thing that happened at Arthur’s house. 

Arthur’s guess was that the binding spell was still working, everything that happened to Morgana happened to Merlin as well. Then Arthur realised, if Morgana died, so would Merlin.

Like the last time, this attack didn’t last long. When it finished Merlin was left gasping. Arthur heard the cars’ horns as they passed them. Some people made rude gestures but some seemed to have noticed something was going on and tried to help. Arthur shook his head to them, the last thing they needed was someone else involved in this mess. He waited for Merlin’s breath to slow down a little before asking:

“Alright?” Merlin looked at him but Arthur noticed his eyes were having a hard time focusing on Arthur’s face. Nevertheless, Merlin nodded and Arthur continued, “Can you take the car off the road?” Merlin shook his head no, his hands were trembling. “Okay, but can you move? We have to get out of the way.”

Merlin just nodded again. Somehow they managed to switch places without any further accident. When he was finally behind the steering wheel Arthur pulled the car.

Merlin had told him where they were going when they left the house. Arthur knew how to get there.

Beside him Merlin seemed to be slowly getting better, the colour was returning to him and - on the bright side - at least he didn’t puke this time. By the time Arthur stopped the car in front of the Irish pub Merlin already resembled a human again.

“This is it. Best lead we have on my friend,” Merlin said as he opened the passenger’s door. “Come on.”

Arthur was about to open his door when a thought crossed his mind. “What kind of bar is this?”

Merlin, already out of the vehicle, shrugged. “Normal kind, I supposed. Lots of alcohol, bad lightning, happy drunks, sad drunks… dragons.”

“What?!” Arthur’s eyes went wide. At the same time Merlin started to full body laugh.

“Oh God, Arthur!” He clapped his hands. “You should have seen your face!” Merlin put a hand over his mouth and chuckled a little more before sobering up. Arthur wasn’t finding anything funny. He glared at Merlin. One minute the man looked like he was about to die, the other he made _Arthur_ have murderous thoughts. Fuck him, and those stupid ears and that stupid smile of his. “Yes, most of the people who come here have magic, but it’s not exclusive. It’s not a club… Or a coven.” Merlin stopped smiling, his face turned serious. “Stay in the car if you want. I won’t take long.”  He turned around and walked toward the pub before Arthur could say anything.

Not that Arthur had anything to say anyway. He hated the way Merlin could read him like an open book. And he hated even more how he could see the judgment in Merlin’s eyes, how quickly they put him on trial and found him guilty of being a close minded bigot.  As if Arthur didn’t have the right to be able to defend himself. He could use weapons, he could fight anyone with his bare hands, but how the hell was he supposed to protect himself from someone who could set fires with their minds or even control someone else’s? He grew up listening to some terrible stories; he couldn’t just ignore everything simply because he met a sorcerer with nice eyes.

Nice eyes which were coming back with the rest of the body.

“That was way too fast. You didn’t find him, did you?” he said when Merlin entered the car.

“No. Will said he's on a job in Wales, should be back tomorrow or the day after.”

“Can’t you call him?”

“He doesn’t have a phone. Listen.” Merlin turned his body so that he could face Arthur. “Do you need me to take you back to your house? Edwin is going to take a while, and even if I get a hold of him, I have no guarantee he can find Morgana. Like I told you, before my magic went off I had a feeling, I might know where she is. You can look for her yourself if you want, but I believe there’s no need for us to work together.”

Arthur laughed bitterly. “ _You_ wanted my help! You came to _my house_!”

“I was _taken_ there. Clearly there was something wrong with my magic, because there’s no way someone so full of prejudice could help me.”

“Ah, there it is!” Arthur punched the steering wheel with an open hand. “He finally said it! It’s been eating you alive, hasn’t it?”

“Get out of my car.”

“And let you have another fit on the middle of traffic to kill yourself along with others. No, thanks. My conscious is heavy enough as it is. Where do you live?” He started the car and pulled out of the sidewalk. Beside him Merlin sighed, he pressed a hand to his forehead and gave Arthur the address. It wasn’t far from the pub and their journey was silent. When they got to Merlin’s apartment Arthur entered the building with him.

“You can go now, detective,” Merlin said to him without turning his back when they left the elevator. “I’m not allowed to bring in strays.”

“Very funny. Was that how you got your job?” Arthur asked from the door. Merlin had vanished to somewhere inside the apartment as soon as he got in.

Merlin was not an organized person, judging for the state of his living room.

“Stop judging my mess,” Merlin said when he got back to the living room. “It’s organized chaos.”

Arthur snorted.

“Here.” There was about a thousand pound on the hand Merlin was stretching towards Arthur. “For your service.”

“Keep your money,” Arthur said, putting his hands on his pockets for good measure. Now go grab whatever you might need. You’re staying with me.”

“What? No!”

“Merlin, this is not a discussion. I’ve seen the state you’re in. You have no magic. No way of protecting yourself. Plus, they already have Morgana; something tells me you’re next on their list. There’s no way I’m leaving you alone.” Arthur had no idea where that came from, but he was certain he couldn’t just leave Merlin there, that place wasn’t safe.

 “Why do you care, anyway? You don’t even know me!” Merlin said, opening his arms in a frustrated gesture.

Arthur’s answer surprised even himself.

“Well, someone on the telly said I should care.”


	3. Chapter 3

Merlin was pissed. Magic or not, he was still capable of defending himself. Who Arthur thought he was? If he wanted to be a knight in shining armour he would have to find someone else to play his damsel in distress.

 _Yet_ , Merlin thought as he rinsed the conditioner off his hair, _here I am using his shower._ He sighed frustrated. So much for having the last word.

He dried himself with one of Arthur’s ridiculously big towels.

The bathroom Merlin was using was the one in the guestroom he was staying. There were three of them; Merlin chose the one furthest from Arthur’s bedroom.

The house was bigger than Merlin had first thought. When they finally got there - after two more fights about Merlin’s independence and ability to take care of himself – Arthur had given Merlin a tour of the house. It was all very posh, which didn’t surprise Merlin; he knew Arthur came from a wealthy family. However, what _did_ surprise him was the garden. It was beautiful, there were all sorts of flowers (most of which Merlin couldn’t name), well cut grass and a big tree at the end.

“It’s a hobby,” Arthur had said shrugging. But there was no denying the red on his cheeks. Despite of himself, Merlin found it all really adorable.

Arthur was waiting for him at the bedroom door when Merlin came out of the bathroom.

“You’re phone rang like five times.” He gestured with his head at the direction of the bed where the mobile was. “Gotta a girlfriend you forgot to tell me about?”

“Yeah, gay,” Merlin answered distractedly while he picked the phone from the bed and unlocked it. “And before you ask, no boyfriend either. I’m in an abusive relationship with my work.” He started to go through the missing calls. “They’re all from Gwaine, bloke who works with me. Except…” He frowned at the small screen.

“What?”

“I don’t recognize this last number.” Merlin looked at Arthur as if maybe he could provide an answer.

“Let me see.” Merlin put the phone on Arthur’s outstretched hand. “This code is local. Call it back.” He gave the phone back to Merlin.

It rang four times before the person on the other end picked up.

 _“I was told you’ve been looking for me,”_ was the first thing the person on the other line said. Merlin’s body relaxed. He didn’t exactly know what he would have done if this was Morgana’s kidnapper. Also, that was just the person Merlin needed now.

“Edwin!” Merlin said and smiled at Arthur. “Hey, look, I need a favour. But you have to be discreet.” Next to him, Arthur started to bite his thumb.

 _“I am always discreet, Emrys.”_ That was the annoying side of dealing with someone who found stuff for living. Edwin had known who Merlin was the moment they met. _“What is it?”_

“It’s Morgana, she’s missing.” Merlin weighted the pros and cons of giving him more information, then he remembered one of the first things he had learned when he got his job on TV: editing. “I believe she has been victim of one of those hate attacks. The attacker blocked her magic, so I can’t trace her.”

 _“And you want me to find her. Do you have anything of hers that I can use for the location spell?”_  Merlin silently thanked his lucky star. His explanation seemed to have been enough, judging by Edwin’s tone.

“Yeah, yeah. I have her phone. I can give it to you tomorrow, is that okay?” Next to him Arthur stopped pacing and was now looking at Merlin with something that resembled hope.

_“Fine. Meet me at the pub.”_

Merlin looked at Arthur; there was no way he was going to let Merlin go alone. “Actually, Edwin. Can we meet at the café down that same street?”

 _“Why?”_  Edwin sounded suspicious. Merlin searched his brain for anything that could pass as a reasonable answer.

“Just a friend who wants to tag along. He is… uh… trying to stay sober.” _What?_ Arthur mouthed. “Better to avoid being so close to alcohol.”

_“Whatever. I’ll meet you there tomorrow morning, you give the phone and we can discuss my fees.”_

“Okay, and, Edwin,” Merlin turned his back to Arthur and lowered his voice. “Just Merlin. When we meet tomorrow. Just call me Merlin.” He didn’t say goodbye, there was no need to, Edwin hung up as soon as Merlin stopped talking.

“Why did you tell him I’m a bloody alcoholic?” Arthur asked when he saw Merlin had hung up.

“He’s had some really bad experience with people who hate magic. He sees you making the cross sign whenever someone magic themselves another drink he’s not gonna help,” Merlin answered annoyed. “Actually, he’s not helping at all, we’re paying him.”

“I thought he was your friend;” Arthur said in a sarcastic tone, raising an eyebrow at Merlin.

Merlin snorted. “Maybe that wasn’t the best word to use it.”

“Merlin, is this man trustworthy?” There was no sarcasm on his voice this time.

Merlin didn’t want to lie so he simply said, “He’s our best hope.” He unlocked the phone again. “Now, Gwaine.”

“I’ll leave you to it. Dinner’s almost here,” Arthur said as he left the bedroom.

“You mean _ready_?” Merlin shouted back at him.

“I meant exactly what I said. Dinner’s pizza.”

“Fine by me,” Merlin said, more to himself than anything. It took Gwaine less time to answer than Edwin.

 _“Where the hell are you two?”_ He sounded of breath, he probably ran to get to the phone.

“Hello to you, too,” Merlin tried to joke, but it felt wrong. His life had turned completely upside down in less than a day; he had no energy to pretend things were okay.

 _“Seriously, Ems. I’ve been trying to call you and Morgana the whole day.”_ The preoccupation was crystal clear. Merlin felt guilty, he should have said something. But what? He didn’t want to put anyone else in danger either but he also couldn’t leave them in the dark. Against his better judgment, he tried to stall. 

“Liar. You only tried to call me now.”

_“Okay, I’ve been trying to find her first. You know, to talk about the next program. But the thing is: you both went AWOL. I was worried, man. Where are you?”_

“I, uh. It’s complicated.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. He could hear Arthur opening the door for the pizza guy at the living room. Merlin realised they hadn’t eaten anything since morning. He wasn’t hungry.

_“Try me.”_

Merlin sighed, there was no escaping Gwaine. Merlin was going to have to tell him what was happening. “Not over the phone, no. Can you meet me tomorrow morning at the café down the Rising Sun? But it has to be really early; I’m meeting someone else there, too.”

_“That’s not suspicious at all. Anyway, fine. I’ll meet you there. Morgana’s coming too, right?”_

 “I, uh, I don’t think. I don’t think she can make it.” Merlin hesitated and Gwaine noticed.

_“Merlin, what’s going on?”_

“I’ll tell you tomorrow.” He rushed his goodbyes before Gwaine started to make any more questions. “Good night, Gwaine.”

He heard a knock on the door, when he raised his eyes from the floor he had been staring since Gwaine had hung up, Arthur was there looking at him with an expression Merlin couldn’t quite name.

“It will be fine, you know. We’ll find her.”

Merlin felt a lump in his throat. He realised he hadn’t cried yet, he hadn’t had the time. He was exhausted, but he couldn’t give in to his emotions just yet. If he started crying he wouldn’t be able to stop. It would have to wait.

He swallowed hard and tried to smile; Arthur noticed his struggle but didn’t say anything. “Let’s see if you guessed my favourite flavour.”

\---

Gwaine just stared at him without blinking for a few minutes after Merlin introduced him to Arthur and told him what was going on. When it finally seemed he was over the initial shock he started to look for something on his pockets, Merlin didn’t understand what Gwaine was doing until he saw the phone on his friend’s hand.

“Are you insane? Of course we’re calling the police. What were you thinking?”  But before he could even start typing anything Arthur snapped the mobile from Gwaine’s hand.

“Are _you_ an idiot? What have the police done for the other victims? Haven’t you heard a word Merlin said on your show?” Arthur said angrily. Merlin noticed he had not liked Gwaine from the moment they had entered the café.

When Gwaine tried to take the phone from Arthur and the later just stretched the hand with the mobile out of reach, Merlin realised they were going to start a fight. He had too much on his plate already without having to deal that.

 He had had another attack over the night, waking up Arthur with his screams. Arthur had then stayed with Merlin until he fell asleep again. When they woke up with Merlin’s head on Arthur’s chest none of them had commented anything.

“Stop! Both of you!” Merlin slammed his hand down the table, their cups trembled a little but thankfully nothing was spilled. “Arthur, give the phone back to Gwaine,” he said when he got their attention. “And you,” he pointed at Gwaine, “Arthur’s right. Gwaine, you know how little the authorities do for those with magic. We can’t rely on them.”

“Then what Merlin? Come Thursday, what are you going to do? Present by yourself? And what excuse will you give? And what about next week? And the week after?” Gwaine was almost shouting, thankfully the café wasn’t very crowded at that hour but Merlin saw some heads turn their direction. Gwaine noticed too; he took a deep breath to calm himself down. “Sorry. But Merlin, we have to do something!” he said in a more restrained way.

“I know, Gwaine. That’s way we’re meeting with Edwin here, in a few minutes.”

“Edwin? The one with the...?” Gwaine gestured to the left side of his face. From the corner of his eye Merlin saw Arthur frowning, but he didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, him. You know he’s good at finding people.”

“He’s also the creepiest person I’ve ever met.” He quickly held up his hands in surrender when he saw Merlin was about to protest. “Not because of the face, no. There something odd about that guy. I don’t trust him.”

“Well, too bad. Because right now he’s our best hope,” Merlin said angrily.

“Your best hope, maybe. But not the only one.”

“What do you mean?” Arthur asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows at the table. He was the only one of the three who had even touched his coffee, preferring not to interfere with the conversation; which Merlin was thankful for.

“What I mean, princess.” Beside Merlin, Arthur made an annoyed sound, but waited for the explanation. “Is that Merlin is a public face. He’s got powers of his own, and I’m not talking about magic.” He turned to Merlin. “People listen to you; they care about what you say. Haven’t you seen our audience numbers lately? They’re huge! Bigger than ever! I’ve been searching online, too; and Merlin, my friend, there are communities, topics and forums about magical legal rights. And they all mention you. There are talks of organizing parades and events --”

“Get to the point,” Arthur snapped. “Merlin’s other friend is going to be here soon.”

Gwaine seemed like he was about to argue, but a look at Merlin and he saw he had to do as he was told.

“Go live. You don’t have to say what’s going on with Morgana, but go the News. The real News, the one everybody watches it. Tell them what’s been happening. The attacks, Janine Adams, everything. Bring graphics. Expose the hole in the law. Show the dirty under the government’s carpet. Make them _do_ something about it.” Gwaine talked with passion, like he could already see the repercussions of Merlin’s going live.

Merlin shook his head hesitantly. “I don’t know Gwaine, it might aggravate Morgana’s situation.”

“Or it might scare them off, if they know that someone is doing something about it. They won’t kill her. That would just turn her into a martyr.” He punched the table. “Come on Merlin, do this!” And then he said something which completely destroyed his argument to Merlin. “You’re their voice.”

His dad had been their voice once. Look where that had gotten him. No. Merlin couldn’t do this.

“I’m sorry Gwaine. I can’t.” Merlin was sure the motive was clear on his face. Gwaine knew his story, he had seen the moment he said it he had chosen the wrong words.

Gwaine sighed. “It’s for her.”

Merlin shook his head again, and by doing so he saw through the window that Edwin was coming down the street. He announced that to the others and Gwaine got to his feet.

“Would you just think about it? I have a mate who owes me some favours. One word and you are on the next BBC News.” He left a tip for the waitress under his untouched coffee before he left. The waitress retrieved it just before Edwin entered the place.

“ _Merlin_ ,” he said before taking the place where Gwaine had sat. “I presume this is your alcoholic friend.”

“What happened to your face?” Arthur asked before Merlin could say anything. Merlin gave him a side kick on the shin. Arthur pulled a face and glared at Merlin but made no sound.

“Someone tried to burn me alive when I was a child. Tell me, Pendragon, what are your views on magic?” Edwin asked with a raised eyebrow. And okay, even for someone with Edwin’s skills Merlin still thought that was too much.

“How do you know him?” he asked intrigued.

“He’s Morgana’s brother,” Edwin answered without taking his eyes from Arthur. “He also is, I’m sorry, _was_ a detective. I thought you had asked for my help because you knew I was the best, Merlin.”

Merlin had to agree with Gwaine, Edwin was a creepy person. Merlin cleared his throat in an attempt to break the staring contest going on between Arthur and Edwin. At the same time Arthur cocked his head to the side.

“Have we met before?” he asked with a frown.

“I think you’d remembered,” Edwin answered pointing to the scars which covered most of the left side of his face.

“Yeah.”

“Anyway,” Merlin said loud enough to break the tension between the two men. He took Morgana’s phone from his pocket and gave it to Edwin. “Here it is. I don’t have the password.”

Edwin looked at him suspiciously. “But you have magic.”

Merlin tensed; luckily Arthur came to his aid. “Is the content of the phone even necessary? I’ve heard about people who can do this tracking spells with a handkerchief. I doubt they needed to know if the owner blew their nose on it.” 

The look of pure hate Edwin sent Arthur made Merlin’s inside cold. He felt like there was something important going on but he couldn’t place it.

Edwin was about to leave when Merlin remembered he still had to pay. “Hey, Edwin.” He waited for the other man to turn around to ask, “How much do we owe you?” Edwin looked at Arthur before answering. This time he smiled, but because of his scars it came out more as a grimace.

“This one is on me.”

\---

The hand touching her hair was what had woken her up, Morgana noticed. This time she managed to open her eyes. As soon as she did, she wished she hadn’t. The light hurt her eyes. She felt dizzy.

“How are you feeling, my child?” Morgana blinked rapidly, trying to focus. She knew that voice. It didn’t usually have that soothing tone. Morgana tried to say something but her tongue felt heavy, she tried to swallow and it hurt, her throat was dry as sandpaper. She produced a noise that resembled a grunt. “Shh, don’t try to talk now.” The hand on her hair started to move again. “Everything is going to be fine.”

Cold white panic washed over her. She tried to move for the first time and realised her hands and feet were tied to the bed.

“Calm down, child.” He smiled at her. “Father’s going to treat your illness. I’m going to cure you from magic.” The hand left her hair and came to her vision seconds later, holding a needle.

Before blacking out Morgana noticed her surroundings. There wasn’t much she could see besides the high celling with its fluorescent lights, Uther on a white coat and behind him what  seem to be an abandoned hospital ward.

\---

“Gwen, please. Please stop crying.” Merlin scratched his forehead with the hand that wasn’t holding the mobile. “She’ll be fine. I’ll never let anything bad happen to her, you know that.”

 _Damn it, Gwaine!_ Of course he had to go and tell everything to Gwen and Lance as soon as he left the café. Now Merlin was on the phone with Gwen.

She had started crying as soon as he had said hello. He’d been trying to calm her ever since, and so was Lance from what he could hear on the other line.

 _“Can you promise me that?”_ Gwen asked between hiccups. Merlin’s heart broke. He wished he could be there to hug Gwen.

“I’m trying my best,” was the only answer he could give her. He couldn’t make false promises to Gwen. There was some noise on the background. Merlin could hear Gwen talking to Lance, and then he was on the phone.

_“Merlin, turn on your TV. Now. Put on the News.”_

Merlin did so and as soon as he saw the person on the screen the remote fell from his hands. It hit the coffee table and made a noise that attracted Arthur’s attention on the kitchen.

“Merlin, what are you --” He stopped next to Merlin. “Oh, my God!”

Merlin was just vaguely aware of the fact that Lance had hung up; his attention was fully directed to the men on the screen.

It had been years since Uther Pendragon last appeared on national television. He was never sentenced for any of the horrible things he did during The Great Purge. He didn’t even go to trial. He started a war against hundreds of people, incited riots and crimes. Yet he walked with a slap on the wrist. After Balinor’s death he had simply left the senate and vanished. No one had heard of him in decades. Now he seemed to be answering about his absence.

“ _I have been away, yes. Studying. People might not remember, but I used to be a doctor before my political career. My goal was always to help people. To make their lives better.”_  Arthur snorted. Merlin felt sick to his stomach. “ _Now, it’s common knowledge that I have been fighting magic for over 30 years. But all this time I was wrong.”_ Merlin’s jaw dropped.

“What?” Arthur said.

On the telly Uther continued, _“I was wrong to condemn this people as criminals. They are not criminals, they are victims. After years of research I can finally prove it: magic is a disease. And I have the cure for it.”_

“You son of a bitch,” Arthur said. Merlin put his hand on his mouth and shook his head in disbelief. He felt giddy. He walked backwards until the back of his legs hit the couch and then he sat on it.

On the telly, the interviewer seemed to be as shocked as Merlin, he asked Uther to explain it better, but Merlin wasn’t paying attention anymore. Merlin rested his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands. He heard Arthur turning the TV off.

“I can’t believe he did this. It’s a new low, even for him.” Arthur’s voice seemed to be coming from somewhere far away. Merlin felt the sofa deep in when Arthur sat next to him. “I haven’t seen him in so long. Didn’t even know he was still alive.”

Merlin wasn’t paying a lot of attention to what Arthur was saying. His mind was somewhere else. He wouldn’t let that man destroy any more lives. He couldn’t.

He took his hands off his face and looked for his phone. It had fallen under the table somewhere in the middle of the interview. Merlin grabbed it and dialled the number he knew by heart.

“You saw that?” he asked as soon as Gwaine picked up.

_“Who didn’t? Man’s gone mental, I tell you.”_

“Mental or not, he’s dangerous. His ideas have initiated a war before; I can’t let him do this again.” Merlin looked at Arthur while he said it. Merlin didn’t know how Arthur’s relationship with his father was, but he knew how Arthur felt about magic, that the only reason he was working with Merlin was because he knew Merlin had no magic at the moment. Arthur would have to pick sides.  

Arthur seemed to be thinking the same; he held Merlin’s gaze for a few seconds then nodded.

“I’ll do it,” Merlin said to Gwaine. “Call your friend. I’ll do the interview.”


	4. Chapter 4

Merlin was nervous. He couldn’t stop moving long enough to let the make-up girl do her job. Arthur could see the girl - Elena, she had introduced herself - was trying really hard not lose her patience.  If Arthur didn’t know better he would have thought Merlin had never been on television before, but he knew the cameras were not the reason Merlin couldn’t stop bouncing up and down. He was having second thoughts.

After seeing Uther’s interview he had seemed so sure about it. First Arthur thought Merlin had finally broken down. He’d been expecting that. Merlin hadn’t shed a tear yet. Arthur was starting to think Merlin might had been through something much worse, that maybe life had made him rougher around edges like it had done with Arthur. Then, when Merlin called Gwaine he sounded like he was certain of what he was doing, but now not so much.

“What if they kill her because of what I say? I will never be able to live with myself if I do this to her,” Merlin had said when they were in the car, on their way to the BBC studio. Gwaine’s mate must have owed him big time, because the interview had been arranged for the next Monday.

Arthur had tried to calm Merlin down as best as he could, by saying that Morgana would probably do the same for him.

“Sir, _please!_ Keep still!” Elena said exasperated.

“Sorry, sorry,” Merlin answered, siting back on the chair in front of the mirror in the dressing room.  He got up again after Elena finally finished with his make-up. It was almost time for the interview.

He walked over to where Arthur was.

“If you ask me again if this is a good idea I’m going to punch you on the face. And then Elena is going to punch _me_ for ruining her work.” Arthur gave Merlin what he thought to be a reassuring smile. “Don’t let the woman beat me, Merlin.”

That earned him a smile from Merlin.

“Where’s Gwaine?” Arthur asked looking around.

“He’s talking to that mate of his. I think his name is Percival, or something.”

“I wonder what kind of thing he owes Gwaine.”

Merlin shook his head with a fake distasteful look on his face. “I don’t want to know.”

“What? Do you think it’s something nasty?”  Arthur smiled, playfully.

“Knowing Gwaine, yeah, I bet it is.” Merlin chuckled. _At least that took his mind off the interview,_ Arthur thought. But their light moment was shortened when Percival, the biggest man Arthur had ever seen, came to take Merlin to the studio. “This is it.” He looked down at his hands. Arthur did the same and saw the light tremor on them. He acted without thinking and took Merlin’s hand on his, they were ice cold.

Merlin’s head snapped back up and he looked at Arthur with wide eyes. Again, Arthur let himself be guided by instinct. He closed the short distance between his face and Merlin’s and planted his lips on the other man’s. He felt Merlin’s body tense for a second but then it relaxed against Arthur’s. When Arthur opened his eyes, Merlin’s were still closed.

Behind them Percival cleared his throat loudly. Arthur let go off Merlin just as he opened his eyes.

“For good luck,” was all Arthur had the chance to say before Percival took Merlin away.

\---

 Arthur stayed with Gwaine in a small room just outside the studio to watch the interview. There was a big window in front of him from which he could see Merlin sitting on the chair reserved for the guests. He seemed calmer, now that he was under the studio lights. Arthur wasn’t surprise, that _was_ , after all, Merlin’s environment. He was used to all of it. Arthur suspected he even felt home, facing the cameras. Next to Merlin was Geoffrey Monmouth, the usual anchor, behind his desk.

“He’s good at this, isn’t he?” Arthur said to Gwaine without taking his eyes from Merlin.

“Wait until he starts speaking,” Gwaine said, adjusting himself on the chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

“Well Merlin, it’s a pleasure to have you here,” Geoffrey said looking at Merlin, and then he turned for the camera. “But I think many of our viewers must be curious, seeing you on their screen on a Monday.”

Merlin crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees. He smiled to the camera before answering. “Oh, Geoffrey, this is where I began, actually. We were on at the same time for a few months when my show started.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re no longer stealing my audience,” Geoffrey joked. _This is weird_ , Arthur thought. They were acting as if they were on a talk show.

_Oh, I get it._

Geoffrey wasn’t trying to make Merlin feel at home; he was trying to make it look like whatever Merlin was there to say wasn’t serious. He wanted do discredit Merlin. Uther had just been there the other day. And if Arthur were to put his money on it, he would bet his father’s interview wasn’t out of the blue like Merlin’s. This people were not in favour of magic.

He looked at Gwaine, but the man seemed oblivious to what was happening.

“Ha!” Gwaine said, he clappedhis hands once then pointed at Merlin.” You see? This is what I was talking about. You see all this friendly banter; you’d think they’ve been buddies for years. Merlin never met this guy ‘till today.”

“Yeah… Way too friendly for the News, don’t you think?”

In front of them Merlin continued, “You don’t have to worry about it.” He wasn’t smiling anymore. _He noticed, too_ , Arthur thought.

“Well, before we begin, tell us, where does the name Camelot Talk Show came from?”

“This guy’s stalling!” Gwaine protested.

“And you only saw that now?”

“Camelot was a city, here in the United Kingdom, in the Middle Ages. It was the first place where people with magic started to fight for equality.” Merlin was facing the camera; he was deliberately ignoring his host. “For what I’ve seen in your last interview this is still a current theme.”

“You are talking about Uther Pendragon’s statement, about magic being a disease. What do _you_ have to say on the matter?” Geoffrey finally provoked. Arthur sat straighter; he felt a cold in his stomach, as if he were the one under the nation’s gaze.

“What _I_ have to say is simple: Uther Pendragon should be arrested. He should have been behind bars years ago. That man is a _hitler_ , he wants to create segregation based on biological characteristics.”

Merlin leaned his body forward, like (Arthur had noticed) he always did when he wanted to capture the attention of every single one of his viewers.

“My people have endured so much suffering over the centuries – a lot of that suffering caused by Uther himself - please don’t let yourselves be influenced by his speeches full of prejudice. Magic is _not_ a disease; it’s a part of who we are. Yes, it’s not always used for good. But we are _human being_ , we are not above errors. You cannot condemn an entire race – forgive me for the lack of better word – for the mistakes of a few. That man’s words already caused too much pain to many innocent people.”

 Merlin took a deep breath and then continued.

 “On my show I often ask the government what are they doing for the magic people, but now I talk to every citizen watching: let’s put an end to it, to men like Uther Pendragon, whose hearts are full of spite and act only upon their hate; and good men, that are – unfortunately - trapped inside their prejudice, not by choice, but because they were raised to believe magic was nothing but evil.”

Arthur felt a shiver running down his spine. Merlin was looking right at him. He swallowed hard.

“Let’s stop the hate, and embrace difference like we have done it before. We put an end to slavery, we stopped seeing woman as house ornaments, and we are learning how to respect different sexualities.”

Merlin turned his head slightly to the side, it made him look vulnerable. God, he was good! Now he was going to ask for their sympathy, he knew he couldn’t impose anything, hence the puppy dog eyes.

 “Please, please. Embrace difference. Fight for equality.”

 Arthur was so turned on. Merlin had such a presence; he seemed to have grown bigger during his speech. He needed no magic to be powerful.

“I would let him do _things_ to me. I’m not even gay and I would let him bend me over that table,” Gwaine was saying next to him. Arthur couldn’t help but to agree.

Back in the studio, Geoffrey seemed speechless. The old man kept staring at Merlin until somebody on the crew draw his attention back to the camera and he announced the breaks.

Arthur went to find Merlin, but before he could get to him a handsome Hispanic man called Merlin first and they both disappeared through the corridor the man had come from.

“That’s Lance. Don’t be jealous,” Gwaine said from behind him.

Arthur casted a dark look at Gwaine. “Tell Merlin I’m waiting at the car.”

\---

 She was as beautiful as Morgana remembered. They had the same black hair and green eyes. She was sitting by a lake, her feet playing with the water.  She was wearing the green dress Morgana had given her on her last birthday. The one she had been buried with.

_“Mom?”_

Vivian had died a few years ago. All the magic in the world couldn’t cure her cancer. She hadn’t appeared in Morgana’s dreams in so long, she almost never did, actually. Except…

 _“Is this a vision?”_  Morgana looked at her own hands, they were free but she could see the dark circles around her wrists; she looked at her feet, they were bare but she couldn’t feel the grass beneath them.

Vivian looked at her. _“The two sides of the same coin, Morgana. The golden knight and the light to the darkness you’re in. They work together for you_.”

Morgana didn’t understand what that meant but one thing was clear: that wasn’t just a dream. She was a Seer and that _was_ a vision. She started to laugh and cry at the same time. She could feel her magic again. It was just a spark, but it was there. Whatever it was that Uther was trying to do it wasn’t working.

 _“Negative results are thrown away, Morgana._ ” Vivian started to move her feet more quickly, making little waves on the water. “ _They are discarded, you saw.”_

 _“I don’t understand!”_ She cried out, she tried to reach Vivian but she was too far, every step Morgana took only increased the distance between them.

 _“The first one survived.”_ Vivian was starting to disappear. Morgana could feel her head getting heavier. “ _But not his mind. And not his heart.”_

 _“What? Mom!”_ she screamed but it was too late. Vivian was gone; everything around Morgana was dark again.

\---

“What took you so long?” Arthur asked when Merlin entered the car. Arthur started it and pulled from the kerb.

“Lance was showing me the rest of your father’s interview.” Merlin shook his head, he looked disgusted. “He talked about medical treatments, new drugs, fucking rehab.” He turned to Arthur, a disbelief look on his face. “He wants to open a clinic.”

Arthur hesitated. What if his father wasn’t completely wrong? He mentally shook himself. No, Uther only act upon his personal needs, he never cared about anyone but himself. Arthur turned his attention back to Merlin, who was so lost inside his own mind he didn’t even notice Arthur wasn’t paying attention.

“There’s something I'm missing, though.” He bit his bottom lip. “Something important.”

“Well, if it’s important it will come to you eventually.”

“Yeah, yeah… Do you think it went well? Back in there?”

Arthur smiled. “Gwaine said he wanted to rip your clothes off.” He raised an eyebrow. He was about to push his luck. “He wasn’t the only one,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road.

Merlin heaved a sigh; he didn’t look at Arthur when he spoke. “Gwaine can keep his hands to himself.” Arthur fought hard not to smile. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? Yet, he needed Merlin to be clearer.

“What about me?” Arthur could almost see the battle inside Merlin’s mind. Should he give in? Should he sleep with Uther’s son? A man still so full of prejudice.

Arthur had doubts of his own. He liked Merlin. _Damn it_ , he was attracted to him. Yet, he couldn’t shake off that uneasy feeling that this wasn’t a good idea. What if Merlin decided to turn against him as soon as he gets his magic back? What if…

“Arthur?” Merlin was staring at him. Arthur looked from Merlin to the road. He blinked a few times. There was no road. He had made it to his house and he didn’t even notice. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He shook his head to try to clear his mind. “What were we talking about?”

Merlin leaned forward over the passenger seat, he cupped Arthur’s face between his hands and kissed him. It was nothing like the kiss at the studio. For once, Merlin’s lips, and his body, were moving a lot more. He seemed completely confident of what he was doing. He opened Arthur’s lips with his tongue and licked the inside of Arthur’s mouth. Merlin’s left hand left Arthur’s face to go caress his neck then to pull on his hair. When Arthur was starting to react Merlin pulled off.

He rested his forehead on Arthur’s. They were both panting.

“This. We were talking about this.”

\---

They had stared at each other without blinking for a few seconds before both of them snapped out of it and got out of the car. Arthur couldn’t get inside the house fast enough. As soon as they were in, Merlin wrapped his arms around Arthur neck and resumed to kissing every available inch of skin he could get his lips on, which wasn’t much, since Arthur was still way too dressed.

And so was Merlin.

Arthur started to take off Merlin’s clothes while he guided himself and Merlin to his bedroom.  They moved slowly, it was tricky to do all of the undressing and walking backwards at the same time, but Arthur didn’t want to take his eyes from Merlin. He was so beautiful, and Arthur said so.

Merlin blushed slightly. He casted his eyes downwards, looking at where his hands were unbuttoning Arthur’s shirt.

“What is it?” Arthur asked when they stopped at his bedroom door.

“Don’t make me point the obvious,” Merlin said without looking at Arthur, he had finished with the buttons and was now playing with the hem of Arthur’s shirt.

“Don’t tell me the guy who can give me a hard on just by talking politics on TV is insecure,” Arthur said in a playful voice.

“Is not that. Is just --” Merlin glanced at Arthur through his long, dark eyelashes. “You’re very much out of my league.”

Arthur cackled. “You’re a celebrity. No one’s out of your league!” He reached a hand behind himself to turn the knob, when he heard the click he pushed the door open with a soft kick. “Shall we proceed?”

Merlin grinned at him, “Most definitely.” He pressed his body to Arthur’s once again, kissing his neck. “You know. This. I need this.” Every sentence came with a kiss down Arthur’s collarbone. “I need. A distraction. From all of this mess.”

The back of Arthur knees hit the bed and he sat down, adjusting Merlin between his legs.

 Merlin bent his body to continue kissing Arthur’s chest, he kneeled when he got to Arthur’s bellybutton. He stopped when his hands got to the buckled of Arthur’s belt and looked up at Arthur. All that shyness from moments ago had left Merlin.

“Will you be my distraction, Arthur? Will you make me forget for the night? Arthur took a good look at Merlin, he was breathing hard, his hair was a mess, and a flushing was spreading from his cheeks all the way down his neck. Arthur suspected it went further, but Merlin still had a T-shirt on. “What?” Merlin asked when Arthur still hadn’t said anything. “Arthur, you’re staring.”

“You’re way too dressed.”

Merlin fully laughed at that. He took his hands off Arthur’s belt and pulled his T-shirt off. Then he got up and resumed to discarding the rest of his clothes.

Arthur mirrored his actions. When they were both naked Merlin pushed Arthur against the bed and crawled his way up Arthur’s body, straddling him. Arthur ran his hands up and down Merlin’s chest. Something that beautiful couldn’t be dangerous, he thought. Then Merlin moved his hips; a devilish smile playing on his lips. Arthur groaned. _He_ is _dangerous, alright. But so am I._ He held Merlin by the hips and turned them around, trapping Merlin under him.

“I could swear I had something important to tell you.” Merlin panted. Arthur’s hands travelled from Merlin’s neck to the place between his legs, staying there.

“It can wait.”

\---

The moon was high in the sky when Arthur woke up; he blinked against its light. He tried to stretch his body but there was something keeping him where he was, he looked down to see the top of Merlin’s head; the rest of his body was half atop of Arthur’s.

Merlin groaned softly when Arthur tried to move again. “Don’t.”

“My arm, it’s dead,” Arthur said, and with that Merlin adjusted his body so that Arthur’s arm was only under his neck. Arthur wrapped the arm over Merlin’s shoulder, and Merlin snuggled his body closer to Arthur’s.

Arthur kissed the side of Merlin’s head.

“This is nice,” Merlin hummed in response.

Arthur was beginning to fall asleep again when Merlin spoke.

“What’s that?” he asked, getting up from the bed. He wrapped a sheet around his waist and walked over to the set of shelves in front of Arthur’s bed. Most of its contents were books, Arthur had no idea what Merlin was talking about until he stopped in front of the shelves and took the only picture Arthur had in there.

“I know this man,” Merlin said looking at the picture.

Arthur sat up. The picture Merlin was holding was so old sometimes Arthur thought he didn’t even know the people in it. It was him and Gaius on the day he had entered the police.

“That’s Gaius, he worked for my father,” he said, and then he thought better of it and shook his head. Gaius was much more than that. “He was like a father to me, so much better than Uther, really. He used to be an army doctor, but he got injured and started to work for Uther when he left the army. It was because of him that I chose my job. He was my hero.”

“He _was_ a hero,” Merlin said, finally looking at Arthur. “He saved my life. Mine and mom’s” He put the picture back, walked back to the bed and sat at the bottom of it. “Arthur, there’s something you don’t know about me.”  Arthur saw Merlin’s shoulders tense up. He drew his knees up and rested his chin on it, waiting for Merlin to continue.

Merlin turned his body to face Arthur. He took a deep breath and said it: “Ambrosious is not really my last name.” Arthur wasn’t impressed. He knew a lot of people on the telly did that. Surly there was something else, judging by Merlin’s serious face. He continued, “It’s actually Emrys. Balinor Emrys was my father.” Merlin bit his bottom lip. Arthur’s jaw fell.

“I don’t know how, but that man – Gaius -, he appeared out of nowhere, right after the shooting started,” Merlin said in a small voice. He was no longer looking at Arthur but staring down at his hands. He did that a lot when he wasn’t feeling comfortable, Arthur noticed. He was getting really good at reading Merlin. “He rushed mom and me out of the house. She was bleeding, but she didn’t notice. She just held me tight and ran.” Merlin was lost inside his memories, Arthur was sure he was reliving all those scenes as he spoke. He slid down the bed and touched Merlin’s right knee.

“Hey.” Merlin looked form Arthur’s hand to his face. His eyes were red rimmed but he wasn’t crying. He swallowed hard.

“How did he get there, Arthur? I don’t understand. I’ve always wondered who that man was. I wanted to search for him, to thank him; but I didn’t even know his name.”

“Merlin.” Arthur hated himself for what he was about to say. “He was leading the attack.”

Merlin shook his head. “No. no.” He pushed himself away from Arthur and got up. “But he saved us. He got us out.”

“I overheard them. I was just a child, always tailing after Gaius. They didn’t see me.” Now Arthur was the one lost on his memories. “I didn’t understand what they were talking about, but I knew something was off. I knew the name Emrys. Uther never shut up about him. He told Gaius to go to the Emrys house, to put an end to it. I remember Gaius denied a lot until Uther asked if he wanted to be taken as a sympathiser.” Arthur shivered at the memory. “He made the word sound like a curse.”

“Jesus!” Merlin covered his mouth with a hand.

“He probably felt guilty. He was a good man.” Merlin’s silence was starting to make Arthur nervous. “I’m sorry.”

Merlin uncovered his mouth and let his hand fell to his side. He heaved a sight and sat on the bed again. “You were just a kid, it wasn’t your fault.  I take by your choice of verb tense that he is dead now.”

“My relationship with Uther was never an easy one. It got even worse after I came out, he wouldn’t accept me. Gaius was more than a friend, he was a proper parent.” Arthur wasn’t used to sharing so much of his life, but he wanted to somehow protect Gaius’ image. “He was a good man, Merlin.” Arthur felt the urge to reassure that before changing the subject; he pointed at the picture. “That photo was taken on my first day as policemen. Few years later, and I was already a detective.”

Merlin seemed okay with the sudden change of topic and went along with it. “You must have been very good at your job then.” Merlin looked at Arthur curiously. “Why did you leave?”

Arthur knew they would eventually come to that, but it didn’t mean he was ready to offer an answer. He looked at everything in the room but Merlin’s face, trying to find an escape. If he opened his mouth he’d be doomed.

“Arthur, why did you leave?” Merlin pressed. “Why do you live in this house in the middle of nowhere, anyway? Merlin asked, opening his arms in a way that contemplated the whole house. “What are you running from?”

Arthur braced himself. He ran his hands up and down his arms. “You won’t like if I tell you,” he said, facing the window.

“I don’t like it already.” Merlin got off the bed once more; he bent over the pile of clothes next to his feet and took his boxers from it, putting them on. “Arthur?” Arthur looked up at him; he had his hands on his waist and a challenging expression on his face.

Arthur took a deep breath, he held Merlin’s gaze as he spoke. “A job went wrong. It was a boy, he had magic.” Merlin said nothing. “It was eight years ago. I guy named Alvarr came to the station saying his nephew was missing. The child’s name was Mordred, he was 10 and one day he left for school and never came back.” 

“What happened to him?” Merlin asked in a small voice.

“We started looking for him, me and my team. But Alvarr, he never showed up again. Some of the cops thought maybe the boy had appeared. Some thought it all had been just a joke. I kept looking.” Arthur adjusted himself on the bed, folding his legs under his knees. He covered his crouch with a pillow. “There was something off about the whole thing.”

“The magic.”

“Alvarr never mentioned. There were some abandoned buildings on the way to the boy’s school. I thought maybe the kid might have gone to explore one of them and ended up getting hurt. The first one was empty, but the second… It had been a hospital once.” Arthur faced the pillow on his lap. “He was inside some kind of cage in one of the wards. When he saw me, he started screaming. I’d never heard anything like it.  The walls started trembling. First I thought it was an earthquake, and then I remembered how old that place was. I figured it was collapsing or something. All I knew was that I had to get out of there quickly. I managed to break the lock of the cage, but the boy didn’t come out. So I grabbed him, and tried to run but he kicked and moved so much. I lost balance, we fell. Then a piece of the ceiling fell over us.

“I got up. And when I looked at the kid his leg was stuck under some debris, he was staring right back at me. I took a step closer, he screamed again and his eyes… They were glowing, bright yellow. The walls caught _fire_.” Arthur gulped. “I thought he was going to kill me.”

“What did you do?” Merlin’s voice was just a whisper now.

Arthur shook his head. He felt his eyes watering up, he blinked several times. “I ran.” His voice cracked. “I turned around and ran away,” he said to his lap.

“You thought a ten year old scared child was going to _kill you_?”

“Injured animals are the most dangerous --” Arthur started; he was interrupted by Merlin’s snort.

“ _Animals?_ Is that what we are to you? _”_

“It’s not what I meant,” he tried to explain, but Merlin didn’t let him.

“You are unbelievable.” Merlin picked up the rest of his clothes and started dressing angrily.

“I know this sounds bad. But try to walk in my shoes for a minute.” Arthur got out of the bed, he put on a pair of sweatpants that he had forgotten on a chair at the desk he had next to his bed. “You have no idea how it was to be raised by someone like Uther.  I grew up with him telling me how magic was evil. How I should never trust it, he said it was deceiving. When someone tells you the same thing your whole life you believe it, because that’s all you’ve ever known.”

“Bullshit! You’re not a fucking child anymore, Arthur.” He pointed a finger at Arthur. “You were old enough to know right from wrong.” Merlin was almost shouting. You can’t use your father as an excuse every time you screw up.”

“Is this about Mordred? Because I know I fucked up, I’m not trying to excuse myself.”

“It’s about everything! Honestly, Arthur. I don’t understand you. You act like you want to help me find Morgana, but you refuse to enter a bar because you know there are people with magic in there. You _fuck me_ , and then you tell me you left a child to die inside a burning building because his eyes changed colour.” He sighed. “Be honest, would you even give me the time of day if I had my magic?”

Arthur had made that same question to himself since the first night Merlin had slept in his guestroom. He still had no answer, and he didn’t want to lie to Merlin, so he simply said, “I don’t know.”

“You know, we might be on the verge of a war here. You have to pick a side, Arthur,” Merlin said softly, but the words still stung.

“It seems like you’ve already chosen for me,” he said, defeated.

“You are actually worse than him. At least Uther never pretended to be what he wasn’t.” With that, Merlin left the room.

 Arthur heard when he opened and closed the front door. Arthur didn’t go after him. Seconds later a car was started and then Merlin was gone. Arthur rubbed his hands on his face. What the fuck had just happened?

He grabbed a pillow from the bed and threw it at the set of shelves, it hit the photograph. The frame broke when it hit the ground. Arthur walked over to where it had fallen and kneeled down to pick up the pieces of glass. He took the picture on his hands and stared at it.

“You were the best person I’ve ever known, and even you weren’t above making mistakes,” he said to the smiling Gaius on the photo. “So, why can’t I?” He sighed frustrated.

He got up and threw the broken glass in the trash; he placed the picture back on its place. He would buy another frame tomorrow, he promised Gaius. Right now he was going to drink himself to sleep.

Arthur was about to leave the bedroom when his phone rang. It took him sometime to find it in the middle of his discarded clothes on the floor. When he finally found it he didn’t even glance at the screen before answering.

“Hello?”

_“I found her.”_

Arthur shifted from one foot to the other. He didn’t recognize the voice. “Who’s this?”

_“You forget too easily, Pendragon. You should see a doctor.”_

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Edwin.”

_“I know where your sister is.”_

At last, good news.

“Okay, give me the address. I’ll call Merlin,” Arthur said, and then he remembered something. “Why did you call me? How did get my number, anyway?”

_“I can find anything I want, Arthur. And you can’t call Merlin.”_

“Why not?”

_“It might be dangerous for those with magic.”_

Arthur thought about it for a moment. Merlin was angry with him, which meant he probably wouldn’t answer a call from Arthur anyway. Of course Arthur could just go to his house but he was angry, too. Merlin thought so little of him. He asked for tolerance on TV and yet he had none when it came to Arthur. No, Arthur could do this by himself.

“Okay. Where is she? Where do I find my sister?”


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin was driving on autopilot.

Not that his car _had_ an autopilot. But if he had said he was perfectly conscious of the traffic around him it would have been a lie.

There was so much in his head; he couldn’t think straight. He felt disgusted with himself. Why did he have to get involved with Arthur?

Merlin only realised where he was when he stopped the car. The man at the gates knew him, so he didn’t bother with identification when Merlin passed the through it.

Merlin parked on the usual spot.

Saint Paul’s Memorial offered parking space for family members. Despite its catholic name the place was run by an old family of sorcerers. It was a home for people with, well, with any kind of problem really; from mental disorders to physical disabilities. Saint Paul’s Memorial offered support for people with or without magic, they could choose to live there, or only pass the day.

After Merlin had gone to university, Hunith had decided that it was a good place for her. Merlin couldn’t complain. He felt more at ease about going away knowing his mom was being taken care of.

When their house had been attacked one of the bullets had hit Hunith, getting stuck in her spine. She had said she hadn’t felt anything, not until she had finally gotten Merlin to somewhere save.

Hunith had spent hours running on pure adrenaline. When they had, at last, taken her to see doctor, it was already too late.

She was paralyzed from the waist down.

Merlin waved a distracted hello to the woman behind the reception desk. She too knew him long enough to dispense formalities.

He followed the path down the light coloured hallway which led to his mother’s apartment.

The door was open but Merlin still knocked and waited for Hunith to spun the wheelchair around.

She gasped, clenching a hand over her chest in surprise.

“Merlin!”

Merlin felt ashamed. It had been some time since he last came to see her, and he knew the main reason he had come today was because he felt lost. He didn’t know where else to go, so he went to seek comfort on the only place he was sure he would find any.

Even if she weren’t the person who knew Merlin the best, it was probably clear on his face how desperate he felt.

Hunith stretched her arms out to him.

And that was it.

Merlin crossed the short distance between them and collapsed in front of her. He knelt down in front of the wheelchair and held Hunith tightly by the waist, burying his face on her lap.

His tears didn’t need any more invitation than that. They ran freely down his cheeks, quickly soaking Hunith’s pants. When she put her hand on the top of his head the sobs started. Merlin’s whole body trembled with the force of everything he had been holding inside until that moment.

Morgana. Arthur. Uther. Gaius. Magic.

Merlin didn’t know what to do. So he gave in.

Hunith patted his head. “Let it out, my boy. Let everything out,” she said as calmly as she used to do it when Merlin’s nightmares woke him up as a child.

Merlin had no idea how long he stayed like that, but his eyes were dry when he rose his head. Hunith wiped a remaining tear out of his cheek with her thumb. She looked at him with a sympathetic smile, taking his hands on hers and squeezing them.

“Tell me.”

He told her everything. It took less time than he assumed it would.

“Well, some people would call it karma,” she said, laughing lightly.

Merlin pushed himself off the floor and sat on the bottom of the bed. “And what would you call it?”

“Destiny.” There wasn’t a hint of joke on her voice.

“What do I do now, mom?”

“I think the first thing to do right now is to save your friend.” Merlin was about to say he still had no magic but she proceeded, “Your father had a saying. He used to say _you can’t lose what you are._ Do you know what that means, sweetheart?” Merlin shook his head. “You were born with magic, Merlin. It’s not just a part of you. It _is you._ You are magic, Merlin. And you cannot lose what you are. _”_

Merlin looked at her puzzled. “But… I can’t feel anything. It’s like I’m empty, mom.”

She wheeled her chair closer to him and placed a hand over his heart. “Did you check in here?” She offered him a blinding smile, the kind which always made him smile back.

“Now, this Arthur, you care about him.” It wasn’t a question. Merlin’s smile dropped, he sighed, looking down at his hands.

“Mom, what he did was horrible.”

“You’ve seen what that man said on television.” Merlin knew _that man_ wasn’t Arthur. Even after all those years Hunith still couldn’t say Uther’s name. “Imagine the kind of things he taught that child.”

“But Arthur’s not a child, mom.”

“No, but he was one. Why don’t you put milk on your tea?”

At first he thought it was a rhetorical question, but when Hunith didn’t continue Merlin answered, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Cause you never put any when I was… growing up.”

“I’m not saying he isn’t responsible for his actions, Merlin. But --”

“But I should be more understanding,” he completed.

Hunith nodded. She took Merlin’s hand on hers, bringing them close to her mouth and kissing his knuckles.

“You have to go save Morgana.”

Merlin got up from the bed and pressed his hands down his jeans. “Right, you’re right.” He smiled down at his mother. “I can do this!” He bent down and kissed Hunith on the cheek. “Thank you, mom.”

Merlin turned to leave but Hunith called him back, “Merlin!”

He turned his head. “Yeah?”

“Be careful. But don’t be afraid of fighting for what is right.”

\---

“Was that you on my TV last night or am I finally going crazy?”

The question came from behind him when Merlin was at the front garden of Saint Paul; he swung around to look at the person who had talked. The only other person there, besides him, was a woman with striking blue eyes (that he could see from where he was) and dark brown hair at the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, that was me.”

“You probably don’t recognize me, but you should,” she said as she walked down the stairs. “After all I am the evil enchantress who started the war.”

“Nimueh.”

She smiled satisfied. “Good. You know your History.” She reached Merlin and stopped in front of him. “Now we should discuss the future, Mr. Emrys.”

\---

This time when Morgana woke up she wasn’t on the bed anymore. She was in a dark room with dirty padded walls and no windows.

She wanted to scream, but she felt too tired to even do that. She sat, leaning her back against the wall which faced the door. There was no knob or handle. She didn’t expect one, nor did she go to see if it was unlocked. It wouldn’t do her any good. Uther had her trapped; she was going to die in there.

She brought a hand to the left side of her face; there was a bandage just above her ear. It hadn’t been just a dream then, Uther really had gone through her skull.

Morgana tried to reach for her magic again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _Come on, come on!_ , she thought, _I know you’re in there._ She felt a pressure on her brain, it was as if her magic was, like Morgana herself, incarcerated somewhere inside her mind. She just had to find a way to pick the lock.

She growled, knocking her head on the soft cushion behind her in frustration. Morgana looked down at her broken nails.

She thought about her mother. How the hell a woman like Vivian could have gotten herself involved with someone like Uther Pendragon?

Morgana had had about six encounters with him in her life until now, all disastrous, to say the least. She had never seen Uther as a father figure, she could have lived the rest of her life without seeing his face and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Her dislike towards him had nothing to do with the fact the he had never cared about her. She couldn’t understand why he was doing this to her.

She kept staring at her broken nails as if they could provide her with an answer. They didn’t. Morgana closed her hands in fists, shutting her eyes again. She breathed slowly. _One. Two. Three._ She tried to force her magic out of its shackles once more.

Morgana had pressed her nails so tightly they were hurting her palms. Her nose started to bleed. She didn’t care. She pushed a little more. She had no idea what kind of game Uther was playing, but she wouldn’t let him win this. He was not going to break her.

Deep inside her, Morgana felt the trembling sparkle that was her magic starting to turn into a flame.

\---

They sat on one of the benches in the garden a few metres from the main building.

Merlin opened his mouth but Nimueh raised her index finger to him and said, “Let’s skip the ‘how do you know me?’ part, to not insult my intelligence. I’ve been living here for years and you are the only person who visits Balinor’s widow.”

“Fine, I won’t deny it. It’s not a secret,” he lied.  

Merlin suspected that there was not a person over thirty who didn’t know who Nimueh was. Her name was the first one on Uther’s hate list. She was the doctor who had delivered Arthur into this world, and according to Uther, also the one to kill his wife in childbirth.

Just as everyone knew who she was, no one actually knew what had really happened to Igraine Pendragon. Again, Uther was the only source of information, and in his version Nimueh had sacrificed his wife in some kind of ritual.

“You look good for someone your age, by the way.” Curiosity was killing him, she should be at least sixty, but she didn’t look a day over thirty.

“I don’t _age_.” She made the word sound like a curse; then shrugged, “Perks of being immortal.”

Merlin chose to ignore that information for the benefit of his mental health. Over the years he had encountered some immortal sorcerers, and discovered they had a lot in common with him. The physical appearance for example, blue eyes and dark hair. He didn’t like to think of himself as an immortal being, just like he had no desire of risking his life to prove that theory.

He changed the subject. “Tell me, why did you let Uther say all those things about you?”

Nimueh shuffled through her pockets and produced a pack a cigarettes from one of them. She shook the box over her palm until one of the cigarettes fell on her hand; she brought it to her lips. Her eyes glowed yellow for a second and the cigarette lit itself.

“It was the word of a famous politician against mine,” she said after blowing the cigarette. “No one would have believed me. And I didn’t want to risk my life.”

“But you are immortal,” Merlin pointed.

“And how do you think I discovered that,” she said with a dark expression on her face. She inspected the cigarette as she spoke, rolling it between her fingers. “I wasn’t born centuries ago, Merlin. I’m not a medieval witch.”

Merlin swallowed hard. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t bother.” She waved dismissively. “You know, I went to talk to him when it all started. Asked him what the fuck he was doing.” She turned to face Merlin, the look on her face made his insides feel icy. “We had a deal, Uther and me. I wasn’t supposed to use magic to treat my patients at the hospital, but he was my friend. We went to university together. His wife couldn’t have a baby so he asked for my help.” She shook her head. “I specifically told him ‘a life for a life’, he said he understood.” She blew on the cigarette once again and threw it on the grass, stepping on it to kill the fire. “When the riots began and I saw him spitting my name on the news, I went to ask him what that was about. You know what he said to me?” She scoffed. “He said he’d sacrificed a dog. A dog! He thought he could trade his son’s life for a dog.”

Merlin was speechless, wondering what Arthur would say to all of that. He probably had no idea.

“Forgive me, but what are you doing in a place like this?”

“I work here,” she answered, getting off the bench. “It’s the only place where I’m still allowed to practice medicine.” She sighed as if bored with the conversation. “Uther Pendragon screwed with lots of lives.”

Merlin got off the bench as well, it was clear she was about to dismiss him. “Why did you tell me all of this?”

“Isn’t that clear?” she asked feigning innocence. Merlin shook his head. “He’s trying to do it again. And now that you took your father’s place I think it’s time for me to stand up to Uther as well.”

“I didn’t take my father’s place,” he protested.

“Oh, but you did, Merlin. I think it’s time for both of us to stop hiding.” Nimueh stretched her hand out to him. “I’ll go to TV, I’ll tell everything. Together we can stop him. What do you say?”

Merlin looked from her to the hand in front of him; he knew that if he shook it there would be no coming back. But then again, it had always being his fight from the moment they opened fire to his house – no, before that – from the moment he was born with magic.

Nimueh gave him a genuine smile when their hands met.

Maybe his mom was right. Maybe it was really destiny.

\---

Merlin left Saint Paul’s Memorial feeling both confident and scared at the same time. Talking to his mother had helped with his insecurities, like it always did. Talking to Nimueh, on the other hand, left him with an uneasy feeling. Come Thursday she would be in his show to expose the truth about Uther Pendragon.

But first he had to rescue Morgana. That was the important thing he was going to tell Arthur before they got distracted with their bodies.

After Lance had shown him the rest of Uther’s interview it had been easy to connect the dots. _“Already have some successful results…”_ Uther had said.

“Didn’t Janine Adams have some marks on her body the police discarded as drug use?” Lance had asked. “What if it wasn’t from that? Her body was found in the river, where evidence could easily be washed away.”

 Merlin slapped his forehead at the memory. _How could I have been so stupid?_ He thought. Uther’s talk about a cure happening at the same time Morgana is kidnapped and her magic is shut off? Not a coincidence. He was using his own daughter as a guinea pig.

“I’m so sorry, Gana. I should have realised it sooner,” Merlin apologized to the empty car. He was going to make things right. Now he just needed to get his magic back.

He was so engrossed in his thoughts it took Merlin some time to notice the car was not moving. No one was. He was stuck on traffic. _Great, that’s all I needed now._ He thought sarcastically. He put his head out through the window, stretching out his neck to try and see what was causing the traffic jam. His car wasn’t far from the crossing so he was able to get a good look at it.

Merlin’s jaw fell.

It was a parade. There were easily about a thousand people walking down the street. Above the mob was a huge banner, _floating_ mid-air. It cost Merlin some effort, because the banner was not turned towards him, but he managed to make out what was written in it. It read YOU CAN’T FIX WHAT ISN’T BROKEN in red block letters. There were smaller banners saying all sorts of things, most of which Merlin couldn’t read; but the majority, from what he could see, said “Magic is not a disease”.

The crowd was chanting something about Uther but Merlin couldn’t completely understand theirs words. It didn’t matter, though. He got the message, loud and clear. And it made him thrill; he felt goosebumps running down his arms. A smile started to fight its way out on him face.

That was the most beautiful thing Merlin had seen in years. In spite of the number of people, they were really organized. Their formation resembled more or less a straight line.

It wasn’t just him and Nimueh. This time people were prepared to stop Uther before he started doing any serious damage.

The people on the end of the parade were holding posters with photos of the magic folk who had died on the recent attacks. One of the posters appeared to have lots of small squares on it. Merlin suspected it was the pictures of the people who had died on the Great Purge.

The last poster brought tears to Merlin’s eyes. It was the biggest one, a huge, black and white picture of a smiling Balinor Emrys. Merlin’s breath caught on his throat. He had never seen that photo before. His dad looked so happy. He felt the tears running down his cheeks but he didn’t bother wiping them.

From the corner of his eye Merlin saw some people in the cars next to his throwing strange looks at him. He didn’t pay them any mind either; he probably looked half-crazy anyway, crying alone in his car. And then he gave them more reason to stare when he said it aloud:

“I know I’m not you, but I’ve been trying my best.” He bit his bottom lip to keep from crying again. “Help me, father,” he said, looking at the roof of his car.

No answer came from above, but luckily the traffic began to move again before people started to point at him.

Merlin made his way to his flat, it had only been a few days since he’d been there but the place already smelled like dust. It made Merlin sneeze when he opened the door.

After opening all the windows to let some fresh air in, he ate a sandwich (he couldn’t, for the life of him, remember the last time he had eaten) and sat on the floor in the middle of his living room, in a lotus position. That was the place where he used to meditate or just relax when he felt like he needed to turn off the world around him a little bit.

He closed his eyes and tried to focus only on his breathing, _in and out, in and out._ When he felt that he was calm enough, Merlin concentrated on finding his magic. _You cannot lose what you are._ He heard his mother’s voice inside his head. He searched inside him, trying to feel the magic beneath his skin like he used to. Like electricity running through his veins, that was how it felt like, something alive, warm, strong but steady. That was his magic.

Merlin looked for it. With his eyes still closed he pictured himself in a dark room, and with his hands he patted the walls for the light switch. He felt all four walls until he finally found it, it had been right there were he started. He flipped it on, waiting for a lamp above him to light up, but it was Merlin himself who started to glow. From his heart down to the rest of his body, a light started to run through him.

Merlin opened his eyes. He closed a hand in front of himself, bringing it closer to his mouth he whispered _Forbearnan._ When Merlin opened his hand again there was a small, but very alive flame on it.

\---

While he drove to Morgana’s location, Merlin started to doubt Edwin’s abilities. He hadn’t made any contact yet. And it took Merlin less than five minutes to do the location spell using something else from Morgana’s purse. He was just glad he wouldn’t have to pay.

Edwin had probably decided to just ignore the job. He didn’t like Arthur, and Merlin and he weren’t exactly friends, either. He had no obligation towards neither of them. Merlin just wished he had been honest. But then again, if it not for Arthur…

Arthur.

Merlin sighed. Despite of himself, Merlin did call Arthur when he found out where Morgana was, but the prat hadn’t bother answering. Merlin called three more times but still no Arthur. Well, if he was going to be like that there was nothing Merlin could do. Merlin couldn’t afford to wait for Arthur to stop being childish to rescue Morgana.

Apparently, Morgana was being held in some kind of abandoned asylum, Merlin noticed when he got out of the car. In front of him was an old building with broken windows on both floors. There was no front door, the small set of stairs at the front led to the reception room. When Merlin entered the floor cracked under his weight. He cursed, quickly casting a silence spell. 

He followed the hallway which led to the stairs for the second floor. When he got there, Merlin felt more than heard Morgana. Somehow she had gotten her magic back, too. And she could feel Merlin’s presence.

“ _MERLIN!!! HERE!!”_

Merlin followed the direction of the voice, which he suspected, was only in his mind.

When he turned left he got to a corridor, at the end of the corridor was a door. Morgana was there. Merlin started to walk in her direction when a sound came from a door by his left.

The door was ajar and from its crack he saw Uther sitting behind a desk. His head was down, he was reading something. The only light on the room came from a lampshade on the desk, it wasn’t enough for Uther to see pass his papers.

 Merlin’s presence was safe in the shadows behind the door.

He considered his options; Uther wasn’t going to stay like that forever. Even with the silence spell Merlin couldn’t risk getting caught. And besides, he had no idea if someone else was there as well.

“ _Fleog,”_ ” he whispered. And the lampshade move itself from the desk to knock Uther on the side of his head. He fell over his papers, unconscious.

Merlin ran to the end of the corridor, he casted another spell to unlock the door. As soon as it opened two arms engulfed him in a bear hug.

“Oh, thank God.” Morgana’s voice sounded muffled from where her face was, buried on the crack of Merlin’s neck. He held her tightly, feeling all the tension leave his shoulders. She was safe.

He took a step back, still holding her by the shoulders and looked her up and down to check if she wasn’t hurt. There was a bandage on her head and it seemed like her nose had bled a little, but overall she looked well enough. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be better when we get out of here,” she answered, taking his hand and walking out of the room. “Where’s he?”

“He is in that office over there.” Merlin pointed. “I knocked him out.”

Morgana stopped in from of the office; she pushed the door open and stared at Uther. “What are we going to do with him?” she asked, entering the room.

 “Us? Nothing,” Merlin said from behind her, he took his phone from his pocket and unlocked it. “I’m calling the police.”

“Or we could put an end to this, right now.”

“No, if he shows up dead people will just say it was an act of revenge. Magic doesn’t need any more bad reputation. Besides, we’re not murders. We are better than him.”

He expected Morgana to argue with him but instead she said, “You’re right. Look at this.”

Merlin looked up from his phone and saw that she had put the lampshade back on its place and was holding a notebook under its light. Merlin crossed the short distance between them and bent over the desk to read what seemed to be a journal.

And it _was_ a journal. It was Uther’s notes on his “experiments”.  The latest entry talked about how ‘subject 7’ was responding well to treatment.

“ _Now she’s to stay in the observation room for 24 hour,._ ” Morgana read. She turned to face Merlin with wide eyes. “Subject 7?” she said in a shaky whisper. Before Merlin could say anything she swung back and spat on Uther’s face. He didn’t even stir. “You sick bastard.”

“Gana,” Merlin called her, putting a hand on her arm, “I’m so sorry for what he did to you.”

She shook her head, turning back to the journal. “It wasn’t just me, Merlin. I’m number seven. There were _six_ people before me. What happened to them?”

Merlin swallowed hard, he knew. “The attacks,” he told Morgana in a whisper. “Janine Adams and the others… they were… negative results.”

Morgana’s head snapped back at him. “What did you say? Negative results?”

“Yeah, the attacks we talked about on the show, remember? But there were only five reports. We’re missing someone.” He took the journal from Morgana’s hands; she was still staring at him. “What is it?” he asked worried.

“I had a vision. My mother came to me in a dream; it made no sense at first but... She told me there were two sides of the same coin working together for me.”

“I guess that’s me and Arthur,” Merlin said embarrassed. At her puzzled look he explained, “Long story short, your brother was trying to help me find you; we slept together and I might be a bit in love with him, but he’s also kind of an arse.” He shook his head. “It’s complicated.”

 “O-kay,” Morgana said slowly. “We are definitely talking about that later, but now…” She took the journal back from Merlin and started to flip through the pages backwards. “My mother also said something about negative results. She said they were thrown away. And look.” Indeed all the entries of the five subjects before Morgana ended with _negative result_ written in red. 

“What about the first one?”

“ _First one survived, but not his mind and not his heart._ ”

“What’s that?”

“It’s what my mom said.” She closed the diary then opened it again at the beginning. “ _January the 1st, 2006. Subject 1. Age 10,_ ” she read, Merlin felt disgusted. “Christ!” Morgana hissed. She passed the pages until she got to the last entry before Subject 2. “ _Subject 1 is not responding well to the treatment. Subject is unstable, already set two fires_.” There was a side note with _‘Too young?’_ written beside that sentence. At the bottom of the page Morgana read, “ _Inconclusive result. Trial abandoned.”_

Next to them Uther began to move. “He’s waking up,” Merlin announced. “I’m going to call the police. That,” he pointed to the journal, “it’s going to put him away for good.”

\---

When the police arrived Uther was already awake. Morgana had tied him to the chair while they waited. He started to throw threats at Merlin, who paid him no mind. Uther was finished. As the cops took him away Merlin had to fight the urge to whisper “The Emrys send their regards” in Uther’s ear.

Morgana told them everything that had happened and gave them the journal with Uther’s notes. She would still have to go to the station to press charges and give a full statement, but for now she was finally free to go home. She rested her head on Merlin’s shoulder after they entered the car.

“It’s over,” she sighed, closing her eyes.

Merlin nudged her softly. “Hey, don’t go dying on me now,” he joked, grinning down at her.

She got off his shoulder and looked at him with a serious expression. “Thank you, Merlin. You save my life.”

Merlin felt a lump in his throat. He didn’t know what he would have done if he hadn't gotten there in time. He didn’t even want to think about it. He nodded at her, hoping his eyes could express everything he wanted to say. By the look on Morgana’s face he could see she understood.

After taking Morgana to the hospital - she needed stiches but her brain seemed to be okay -, Merlin took her to see Arthur.

He had tried to talk her out of it, saying that they could go tomorrow, that they still had this week’s program to plan – he had made Morgana call Gwen to assure she was fine and after a few minutes of both of them crying at each other over the phone, Gwen had asked if they were going to present normally, to which Morgana had answered “ _Fuck yeah, I had a week from hell, I need to share that with the world”._ But nothing dissuaded Morgana from her goal.

“I want to meet my brother. You fucked him before I could even shake his hands. You owe me this one, Emrys,” she had said.

Now they were on their way to Arthur’s and Merlin couldn’t stop thinking about the first subject on Uther’s diary. It was the not knowing that was killing him. All the other subjects, the other _people,_ Merlin knew what had happened to them. But this kid, he should be about eighteen, nowadays. Merlin thought about all the 18 year olds he knew. He didn’t know any teenagers really. Actually the only 18 year old he knew was…

“Edwin,” he said it aloud.

“The creepy bloke?” Morgana asked. “What about him?”

“He’s 18.” Merlin’s brain was starting to make connections that were making his stomach feel cold.

“Merlin you’re pale as ghost! What’s going on?” Morgana asked in a concerned tone.

 _Please God, let me be wrong. Please!_ He thought desperately, tightening his hold on the steering wheel. He felt Morgana’s hand squeezing his shoulder. “Merlin?”

He quickly told her Arthur’s story about the boy, Mordred.

“I guess we can’t forget he was raised by Uther,” Morgana said after he finished, she had a disappointed look on her face.

“No, but you’re missing the point.” They got to Arthur’s place and Merlin turned off the car. “Edwin was acting really weird when we met him.” Morgana opened her mouth but he continued, knowing what she was about to say. “More than usual. And Arthur, he asked if they had met before.”

“So you think Edwin is Mordred?” Morgana asked when they got out of the car.

“And Mordred is Subject 1,” Merlin explained, taking the key Arthur had given him and opening the front door. “It’s too much of a coincidence. Mordred was a ten year old who went missing, and then Arthur found him locked in a cage inside an abandoned hospital. And then there was the fire. Arthur never looked back to see what was made of the child. It could be him.” He shook his head. “It _is_ him. Arthur?” He called from the bottom of the stairs. There was no answer.

“Merlin, I hope you’re wrong,” Morgana said from behind him, he turned around to ask her why, and saw that she was holding a piece of paper. “It was by the phone.” She handed it to him.

“ _I know you still have the key I gave you, so in case you came back… I went to find Morgana. Edwin called; he said you shouldn’t go because it might be dangerous for people with magic, that’s why I didn’t call you. I think we should talk later, so just wait for me. Please.”_

Merlin looked up from the paper to Morgana. He wasn’t scared anymore, he was pissed. Fucking Arthur Pendragon had to go and play the hero. According to Morgana’s vision he was dealing with someone who had no mind and no heart. Basically, Merlin was going to save the prat from a crazy psychopath; like he hadn’t just dealt with one a few hours ago.

Edwin, Mordred or whatever the hell was his name, had picked a bad day to mess with someone Merlin cared about.

Merlin barked a bitter laugh.

“You wanted to meet you brother,” he said to Morgana. “Well, now you can help me save him.”


	6. Chapter 6

The first thing Arthur noticed upon waking up was the dull ache at the back of his head. The second was the fact he couldn’t stretch his legs or his back; when he tried to do so he was met with metal bars. The only thing Arthur was certain of was that his hands were tied behind his back. And, of course, he had been played.

“Wakey, wakey,” said a voice from somewhere in front of him. The person snapped their fingers. “Come on, Pendragon. You’ll miss all the fun!”

Slowly Arthur opened his eyes. He had to blink several times to get used to the brightness of the place. He scanned his surroundings; he was in some kind of abandoned hangar. And the reason he could barely move? _Ha, great_ , he thought sarcastically. Arthur was inside a cage.

In front of him, Edwin was sitting on a chair by an old table. The place was mostly bare; the only furniture was a small bed by one of the walls and a cupboard which had seen better days, a long, long time ago.

“I take this is your place.” Arthur’s voice sounded hoarse, probably because of disuse. His throat was dry. “Do you usually incarcerate all your guests? Is this the only way you can make them stay?” He provoked, trying to buy himself some time to think about how the hell he was going to get out of there.

He felt like such an idiot. He should have noticed something was up. Arthur had barely gotten out of the car when someone – Edwin – hit him from behind, knocking him unconscious. He was glad Merlin wasn’t there. At least he wouldn’t get hurt.

“I don’t have a lot of guests, no,” Edwin answered shaking his head. He got off the chair and started to pace in front of Arthur. “But I thought this was the Pendragon way of receiving people. After all, that’s how your father taught me.”

Arthur frowned at him in confusion. “What the hell are you on about?”

Edwin stopped pacing; he knelt down and put his hands in each side of the cage. He squinted at Arthur. “You really don’t remember me, do you?” Arthur said nothing; they had had that conversation before. “Of course you don’t. Why would you? I’m sure I am not the only one whose life YOU DESTROYED.” Edwin screamed, shaking out the cage. Arthur felt as if he were inside a blender, he had no way of protecting himself against the impact. Luckily, Edwin stopped before Arthur fell on his side.

“What. The. Fuck,” Arthur hissed.

Edwin sighed, sitting cross legged in front of the cage.

 “I am gonna have to tell you everything, won’t I?” He looked down at his hands, Arthur did the same and, for the first time he noticed Edwin’s skin was burned there, too.

Arthur wondered how bad it was.

“Once upon a time, there was a little boy,” Edwin started, still inspecting his burns. “The little boy had no family, he was all alone until the day he met a group of sorcerers. He was welcomed there. You see, he too had magic. Those people were his kin. But that’s not the point.” He waved.

“The thing is, the little boy wanted to go to school. So they put him in one, but he had to walk there. It was a short walk.” Edwin shrugged. “The little boy didn’t mind it. Until…” He looked up to face Arthur; he had an insane look on his eyes. Despite of himself, Arthur was starting to get scared. He could only hope it wasn’t showing on his face yet. “Until a big, mean man grabbed him by his arms and threw him in a car. The boy was frightened, but he had no time to do anything because, as soon as he was inside the car, the man put a needle through the boy’s vein. He was out just like that,” Edwin said, snapping his fingers.

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m not done. Shut up and listen.” Edwin cleared his throat and continued. “Turns out, the mean man was a doctor.” He smirked. “He said he had a new theory, and guess who his guinea pig was?” Edwin’s face turned serious again. “It was test after test, it _hurt_ so much. But one day he stopped. He gave up. And you’d think he’d let me go, but _no_. He just left me there.” He snorted. “Or so I thought, until a few days later I discovered he had actually sent his son, to finish the job.” Edwin tilted his head to the right. “Little boy locked inside a cage in an old hospital. Ring any bells?” He asked raising an eyebrow. “You went there to finish Uther’s dirty work, to kill me.”

Arthur’s eyes went wide. “Mordred?” He was sure he had a dumb expression on his face but he couldn’t believe it. “But, but.” Arthur shook his head; he shut his eyes tightly hoping that he would wake up. This surly was a nightmare. It couldn’t be real. “No. I would remember. Mordred, he - he had dark hair and blue eyes. You’re not him.”

Edwin ignored Arthur’s confusion and proceeded talking.

“First your father tries to turn my brains into scrambled eggs. You know, it took me years to understand why he did it; why he kidnapped and tortured a child. But now I know what he wanted. He wanted my magic, and when he saw he couldn’t take it he send his son to kill me,” he explained again, getting up from the floor and starting to pace once more.

“Hey, listen. I don’t know what’s going on here but you can’t be Mordred. He had --” Arthur started but Edwin interrupted him.

“Dark hair and blue eyes,” he mimicked. “I did.” He nodded, looking at the floor. “ _BUT THEY BURNED!_ ” he screamed, pulling at his hair. “This is just a disguise. Ever since I escaped that fire I have been living in fear. Fear of the Pendragons coming after me to finish what they started. This is just a trick; it’s easy to change colours. You know what is not easy, Arthur? To get rid of the burn marks, they never leave.”

“That’s not why I was there.” Arthur whispered. He had no energy to speak aloud. If that was true… _God!_ It made sense, why the kid was so scared, why he wouldn’t trust Arthur. “Alvarr - he said he was your uncle – he came to the station where I worked, he asked me to find you; said you had been missing for days,” Arthur said it to the floor; he didn’t have the courage to look Edwin – Mordred – in the eyes. Uther or not, he had still left a child to die in a fire.

“Do you really expect me to believe that? Alvarr,” Edwin spit the name. “That man never cared about anyone but himself.”

“I’m sorry,” Arthur said, finally looking up.

“Sorry isn’t going to save you now, Pendragon.”

\---

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it,” Arthur said, after a few minutes of silence. His legs were starting to cramp from being in the same position and he couldn’t feel his bum anymore. He tried to make himself more comfortable, but it was no use.

“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll die soon enough.”

“I know you don’t believe me, but I was there to save you.” Arthur tried again.

“Then why did you leave me?”

That was the question Arthur often asked himself. “I got scared, because of the fire.” And wasn’t that excuse beginning to sound lame even to Arthur’s own ears. “I was raised to believe magic was evil.” He shook his head. “But I should have known better. I lost so much.” He thought about Morgana, they could have been proper siblings; they could have grown up together, be friends. Then his mind went to Merlin. He was, well, he was the closest thing to perfection Arthur had ever gotten. And he had lost him, too.

Well, if Arthur was going to die without having a chance to meet his sister or to make things right with Merlin, at least he had a chance to apologize for this; even if his excuses fell on Mordred’s deaf ears.

“Please forgive me.” Arthur’s voice cracked, there was a lump in his throat, and his eyes were burning with the tears he hadn’t shed. “I was young, and stupid; and nothing I say will ever make it right to you. But you have to know! You have to know I had nothing to do with what my father did to you.”

“You know, you and Merlin. You deserve each other. He’s a phony just like you, pretending to be someone else because he’s too scared that people will come after him.”

Arthur had to laugh at that. “Isn’t that exactly what you’ve been doing?”

He regretted his words as soon as he said it. Mordred came close to the cage again, looking down at Arthur; he raised a leg and kicked the front of Arthur’s cell. It made the small bars cave in, making the space smaller. Arthur’s head hit the back of the cage because of the impact. He groaned in pain.

“You must be feeling very brave,” Mordred hissed, pushing his hair out of his face. “I’m going to put an end to it,” he said, circulating the cage and disappearing somewhere behind Arthur.

A few minutes later Arthur heard footsteps and then some kind of liquid was poured over him from above. He closed his eyes, ducking his head to try and protect his face. When it stopped, Arthur sniffed his shirt. It was gasoline.

“Mordred, stop!” The voice came from behind Arthur, but he didn’t have to look to know who it belonged to.

Arthur didn’t know which feeling was the biggest at the moment, his anger or his relieve.

The idiot had to come and try to save Arthur, even without his magic. He promised himself that, if they could get out of there alive, Arthur was going kiss him, and then he was going to punch Merlin for putting himself in danger.

“Merlin! I wasn’t expecting you,” Mordred said, grinning at Merlin as if he was just greeting and unexpected guest. “Please, have a seat. The show is about to start.”

“Get. Away. From him.” Merlin’s voice sent a chill down Arthur’s spine. Arthur had never expect to hear that tone coming from Merlin. He sounded dangerous. And then he finally entered Arthur’s field of view, slowly walking towards them. Merlin didn’t just sound dangerous, he looked down right deadly. “You picked a really bad day to mess with me, mate.”

Suddenly the lights above them started to flicker. Some of them exploded and Arthur tried his best to cover his face from the shattered glass falling over him.

“What are you doing? I’m on your side!” Mordred shouted. “You know what the Pendragons have done to people with magic. He deserves to die!” He stretched a hand at Arthur’s direction, moving his fingers as if he were squeezing something.

Arthur started choking, his throat was closing in. He couldn’t breathe. And as his vision began to blur, Arthur felt himself slowly slipping away from consciousness. He heard Merlin yelling at Mordred to stop, and the noise of something large being thrown against the metal walls of the hangar.

The last thing Arthur registered before blacking out was the soothing voice of a woman saying, “Don’t worry, baby brother. You’re safe now.”

\---

Arthur woke up on a hospital bed. The nurse informed him he had been out for hours and that his sister and his boyfriend – _what? –_ had had to leave, but they said they would come back as soon as the show was over.

The nurse told him he had no severe injuries, but that his throat was still a little swollen and it would hurt for a few days. _No kidding,_ he thought. It already hurt like a bitch. He also had a small concussion, hence his pounding headache and some small wounds from the glass. Otherwise, he would live.

“Can you turn on the TV, please?” Arthur tried to say, but it probably didn’t sound like English, or human, judging by the nurse’s face. He pointed at the television on the wall in front of him and she smiled, handing him the remote before leaving the room.

Arthur’s timing seemed to be perfect, because The Camelot Talk Show was about to start.

“ _Good night, ladies and gentlemen. Today’s episode is really special.”_

Morgana was as dashing as ever, looking at her no one would have guessed she had been tortured and held captive for the whole week. _How the hell did he find her, anyway?_ Arthur thought.  It seemed Merlin hadn’t needed his help after all.

On the screen Morgana continued, “ _I doubt there’s a single person in this country that hasn’t seen the news about Uther’s arrest by now. Well, if you’ve been wondering what happened, don’t worry. I am about to tell you everything.”_

The image opened so that the camera was now showing the whole studio; with Merlin sitting on the right, Morgana on the left; and in the middle a woman Arthur could swear he had seen somewhere before.

 _“I have been a victim of Uther Pendragon. He kidnapped and tortured me.”_  Behind the cameras the audience gasped. _“And the only reason he is finally behind bar it’s because I am a public face, for I was not the first victim.”_

 _“The six attacks we talked about last week, they were all Uther’s doing.”_  The camera focused on Merlin, he was wearing a suit like he usually did on the show, but somehow Arthur found that strange. In the few days they had spent together he had gotten used to see Merlin wearing more casual clothing. _“But there was no sweeping the dirt under the rug this time. This time he attacked someone people would miss.”_

They continued explaining everything that Uther had been doing all those years. Arthur was beginning to think they weren’t going to mentioned Mordred, but right before the break Morgana told the viewers, in general terms, about Uther’s first victim.

She didn’t say his name or if he was still alive, but she did emphasised the fact that he had been a child at the time, and that Uther had caused him permanent damage.

They went to the commercials without even mentioning the woman, or even saying why she was there in the first place. Arthur’s curiosity was only satisfied when the show started again.

 _“By now you all must be wondering who this woman is,”_ Merlin announced when they returned, discreetly pointing to the woman in question with the sheets on his hand. “ _Some may remember her name, this is Nimueh. She was one of Uther’s best friends. She is also magic.”_

That was why she seemed so familiar. That was the woman who had killed Arthur’s mother. What was Merlin doing? That woman was dangerous, she was --

Arthur shook his head, and regretted instantly, he felt dizzy.

After the will to vomit left him, he focused on the telly again.

All the information Arthur had about that woman came from his father, and he should have learned by now not to trust Uther.

The woman, Nimueh, was talking.

“ _He asked me for a favour. He was my friend; you don’t deny favours to a friend. Uther wanted a child, it was his biggest dream, and I had the powers to help him and his wife. I told him, ‘a life for a life’,”_ Nimueh spoke the last sentence looking at Merlin, it was clear they had had that conversation before. “ _He thought he could sacrifice an animal, but a human life is the only thing that pays for another human life,”_ she continued to the cameras _. “This is the first time I feel safe enough to defend myself in public. That man started a war because of his own selfish reasons. I doubt he ever told his wife about the deal he made with me.”_

Arthur’s throat was burning, he could barely breathe. His mother was dead because of him. He always suspected but from all he knew; Igraine had been a victim of a witch’s curse. Arthur’s world had completely changed in the course of a week, but he had never expected that.

The tears were running freely down his face now. He tried to focus his blurred vision on the television. Merlin was talking again.

Arthur blinked several times; he was having a hard time making out Merlin’s words because of the ringing on his ears.

_“Uther Pendragon might be gone, but he started something a lot bigger than himself. There are still those who agree with him. So there must be people to fight for ours rights. When Uther first attacked, people with magic had a voice to represent them, Balinor Emrys.”_

Arthur’s vision was clear enough now to see Merlin swallowing hard. He suddenly realised what Merlin was about to do, and wondered how hard that must have been for Merlin.

 _“Balinor had a wife and a son, they escapade the shooting. Although his wife was also hit, she’s been in a wheelchair ever since. And the boy --”_ Merlin’s voice failed.

Arthur wished he could be there to hold his hand. He too had lost a parent, though he had no recollection of it. Merlin remembered it all.

 _“The boy is the man speaking to you right now. My name is Merlin Emrys, Balinor was my father. He fought for our people and, I swear on his behalf, I_ will _do the same. Goodnight.”_

Morgana said her farewells next and the show was over.

Suddenly Arthur wasn’t feeling tired anymore. He wanted to _do_ _something_. Anything. He wanted to help Merlin, to apologize to Nimueh, he wanted to fight that war. Because, for the first time, Arthur felt like he was on the right side.

\---

Doctor Who was making Arthur sleepy again. He had never been one for TV shows and all the energy from earlier was starting to wear off, thanks to the hyperactive bow-tied bloke on the screen. 

Arthur was about to close his eyes for good when a soft knock came from the door. Arthur had no way of replying, he hoped the person knew that. They did.

After a few seconds the door was opened and a dark head picked form it. “Can I come in?” she asked with a smile.

Arthur nodded. He gestured for her to sit on the chair next to the bed, and then he pointed to his throat, shaking his head.

“Yes, the nurse said you couldn’t speak for now. Uh --” Morgana played with her fingers on her lap; she looked from Arthur to the rest of the room. He could see she was uncomfortable. “I - I don’t know what to say.” She smiled embarrassed.

Arthur had an idea. He mimicked a phone with his hands, shaking it next to his ear then pointing to Morgana’s purse.

“My phone? You want my number?” she asked, tilting her head in confusion. Arthur shook his head. “Oh, you want the device!” Arthur nodded, smiling at his sister.

She opened her bag and took the mobile from it. Somehow she had managed to recover the iPhone from Mordred. Arthur looks at her as she handed the phone to him after unlocking it, there were probably few things that woman couldn’t do. He felt inexplicably proud.

 _You don’t know what to say and I can’t say anything. Quite a pair, we are,_ Arthur typed, giving the mobile back to Morgana; she read and laughed.

“That we are. Imagine the kind of things we would have done, if we had grown up together!” Arthur’s smiled dropped, he felt sad. Morgana sighed unhappy, she took one of Arthur’s hands on hers and squeezed. “I’m glad we got to meet.” She offered him a watery smile. “I don’t know if Merlin told you, but I’m a Seer. I have visions, and dreams – I _saw_ you.”

Arthur asked for the phone with his free hand.

_Would you be interest in a grumpy antisocial gay half-brother?_

He returned the phone; Morgana stayed silent for a few seconds after reading the message, though Arthur noticed she had to make some effort not to laugh when she was reading it. But she wasn’t smiling anymore. Her expression was serious when she finally looked up at him.

“Oh no, Arthur.” Arthur’s heart fell, but before he could try to ask for an explanation she continued, “I don’t want just _half_ of you.”

They grinned at each other like naughty school children. Arthur could already picture a future full of bickering and teasing. He gave Morgana the middle finger. She laughed aloud at that, clapping her hands.

   “Oh, brother dear, I love you already!”

\---

After Morgana left Merlin took her place on the chair next to Arthur. As soon as he sat he gave his phone to Arthur. “Morgana told me you used this to communicate.”

Arthur agreed with a nod and a grateful smile, which Merlin didn’t return, instead looked at Arthur with a worried expression.

“I’m so sorry, Arthur. I put your life in danger. I should never have dragged you into this.”

 _Don’t be stupid,_ he typed quickly and Merlin looked at him confused. Arthur started to type again, it was so slow. He felt frustrated, he wanted to scream.

_I just watched your show, and from what I’ve seen I’m the one who should be apologizing to you and everyone with magic. If it wasn’t for me, none of this would have happened. You’d still have your dad._

Merlin looked horrified. “No, no.” He shook his head. “Don’t blame yourself for being alive.”

 _As if my existence had ever done any good._ His shoulders slacked when he wrote that and realised how true it was. But again, Merlin denied.

“What about me, then? You were the only thing that kept me going this past week, Arthur. You were my rock,” he said, unconsciously reaching out to put a hand on Arthur’s knee. “And Mordred? You never stopped looking for him, even after everybody gave up. It wasn’t your fault Uther had already broken him. You are a good person, Arthur Pendragon. You tried to do good, even though you were raised to think otherwise.”

Arthur had no idea Merlin – heck – he had no idea anyone could think that about him. It made him feel better.

“Thank you,” he mouthed at Merlin, and then he was rewarded with one of Merlin’s genuine smiles.

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Arthur remembered he had something to ask. He deleted the last thing he had written and typed again.

_Mordred?_

Merlin’s face turned sad, he sighed. “He’s alive. He’s in a place people will take good care of him,” was all Merlin said, it left Arthur with an uneasy feeling. He was slowing opening up to magic, but Mordred was something else. Arthur would never be able to trust him.

He still didn’t know what had happened at the hangar, so he asked; and Merlin told him how Morgana had come from behind while Merlin distracted Edwin, and how she had sent him flying all the way across the place until he hit the far wall.

 _And he survived_ that _?_  Arthur was impressed.

Merlin’s face darkened after reading the text, he looked down at his hands. “Do you know how he survived the fire?” Merlin muttered without looking up.

Arthur reached a hand and pulled at Merlin’s sleeve to signalize he couldn’t understand it. Which he did, to be honest; but he knew something was troubling Merlin and he wanted to know what it was.

Merlin’s gaze finally met Arthur’s, he took a deep breath and spoke in no more than a whisper, “He’s immortal.”

Just when Arthur thought nothing else could surprise him… He typed _how do you know?_ and showed it to Merlin.

“He’s like Nimueh. You saw her, dark hair and blue eyes. Most sorcerers with those features are immortal.” This time Arthur didn’t need to type anything, Merlin read the question on his eyes. He shook his head. “I don’t know. And I’m scare of knowing,” Merlin admitted; his voice was shaky. “I don’t want to be immortal, Arthur.” Even if he hadn’t said it Arthur still could see Merlin was afraid. “I don’t want to see the people I love all go away. I don’t – I don’t want to be alone forever.”

That was something Arthur could relate to. All his life he had pushed people away, and then that thing with Mordred had happened, and he couldn’t bear to look people in the eye anymore, knowing what he had done. He knew how tiresome that life was, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how it would be like, an eternity of loneliness.

Arthur grabbed Merlin’s sleeve and pushed him off the chair and on top of himself. He hugged Merlin as tight as he could without hurting any of them, after a moment Merlin seemed to register what was happening and held Arthur back.

\---

“Ah, so this is where you’ve been hiding!” A voice came from behind him, startling Arthur and almost making him drop his beer inside the pool.

“Wasn’t hiding,” Arthur defended himself, scoffing at Merlin when he sat down next to him. Merlin took his shoes off and folded the bottom of his jeans, putting his feet under the water like Arthur had done it.

Two weeks after that day at the hospital they were all together at Lance and Gwen’s. Arthur had finally been properly introduced to the rest of Merlin’s friends.

The night was warm enough that people could stay outdoors, and for that Arthur was very grateful. Morgana’s little ‘reunion’ had enough people to be called a party.  Gwaine had told Arthur it was always like that, and since she lived in a flat, she usually organized those things in someone else’s place. Arthur immediately regretted telling her he lived in a house.

Thing was, Arthur didn’t know the majority of those people. Never mind the fact he was far from what one would call it social. That was why he had chosen the swimming pool over the crowded living room, and he told Merlin as such.

“Why did you stay, then?” Merlin asked, nudging Arthur’s foot with his under the water.

Arthur shrugged. “Don’t know. Wanted to talk to you, suppose.”

“Yeah, me too. How’s the throat, by the way?” They hadn’t seen each other since that day at the hospital. Instead, Arthur had been spending a lot of time with Morgana.

 She had told him Merlin had been quite busy with the repercussions of what he had said on the show. According to Morgana, Merlin’s phone hadn’t stop ringing since that day. There were some threats, and some people who didn’t believe he was Emrys, but most of all, people who wanted him as the official spokesperson for the British magical community. There was a lot on his plate; Arthur couldn’t blame him for not having time.

“It’s better, thanks. I’m just glad I can speak again,” he answered, taking a sip of his beer. “What about you? I heard rumours involving your name and the word politician. Is that right?”

Merlin chucked softly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it. I think it’s the best way to protect my people.”

“I’d vote for you,” Arthur said, raising his beer bottle at Merlin.

“Cheers!”

They shared a moment of companionable silence, in which they could hear the noises of conversation mixed with laughter and music coming from inside the house.

Arthur looked up at the sky; it was a beautiful night even though he couldn’t see the moon.

“We never got a chance to talk about what happened between us?” Merlin broke the silence.

Arthur liked Merlin; he admired the person Merlin was. And sure, he had had a celebrity crush on him since the first time Arthur had watched The Camelot Talk Show; but he wasn’t sure he was the right person for Merlin.

Merlin took his silence as a bad sign, and quickly completed, “Of course, if it was just a one-time thing to you, it’s okay. It’s fine, really. I don’t mind, I --” he laughed nervously. “I’m rambling, sorry.”

“It wasn’t,” Arthur said softly. “It was something I believe we both needed at the time.” He breathed a laugh; rolling the now empty bottle between his fingers. “Who am I kidding? I’ve had a crush on you for ages. I might have taken a little bit of advantage of you that day, Merlin,” Arthur admitted without really feeling guilty.

“Well, you weren’t the only one.” Merlin smirked at him.

Arthur averted his gaze from Merlin’s. “I’m not sure I’m a good choice for you right now, though; especially if you’re going into politics. I’m still a Pendragon.”

“Morgana said you wanted to help our cause. Arthur, look at me.” When Arthur did so Merlin continued, “You’ve the chance to show to people that it doesn’t matter where you come from, if you’re willing to do the right thing,” Merlin said, giving Arthur an encouraging smile.

“You know what you said at the hospital. About you being --” Arthur couldn’t say the word, it felt way too surreal, but Merlin knew what he was talking about. “I understand that, I know what it feels like to be alone.” He shrugged. “I think I am just tired of being lonely” Arthur said, picking at the label of his beer.

Merlin offered him a hand, not to shake, but to hold. “For as long as it lasts?” He asked, smiling.

Arthur took Merlin’s hand on his and nodded.

“For as long as it lasts.”


	7. Epilogue

  

Five years later.

Merlin woke up with a mild hangover, which reminded him he wasn’t twenty anymore, his body didn’t recover as fast as it used to. He looked at the clock on the nightstand, it was still early but he felt too awake to try to sleep again. Instead, he rolled himself out of bed, tossing his side of the covers over the sleeping body next to him.

He crossed the short distance to the bathroom inside the bedroom; there, Merlin looked at his reflection in the mirror.

Thank God for small mercies, despite the fact that he desperately needed to shave, there were no other traces on Merlin’s face that would make him look unpresentable. He had a shitload of things to do that day; he really couldn’t afford to look like a drunken homeless person.

Merlin inspected his hair. Maybe he should get it cut. He was distracted by a small noise from the bedroom. _He does like it when it’s bigger, though,_ Merlin thought, looking through the opened door at the dark room. He shrugged; the haircut could wait one more week or two.

Merlin looked back at the mirror, he ran a hand through his hair again and then stopped when something caught his attention. He got closer to the mirror to take a better look. It couldn’t be, could it? Merlin blinked at his reflection. He inspected the spot again. Yep, it was definitely there.

He ran back to the bedroom and jumped on top of Arthur.

“What?” Arthur asked in a sleepy voice. “Merlin, what are you doing?” Arthur rubbed his eyes. _God, wasn’t he adorable?_

Merlin smiled at him, he bent down and captured Arthur’s mouth on his. Merlin kissed Arthur until he felt the need to breathe, then proceeded to create a trail of kisses down Arthur’s body until he got where he wanted.

Arthur moaned softly under him; he tried to hold Merlin’s hair but Merlin bat his hand way.

When they finished Merlin wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked at Arthur, he was breathing heavily, his cheeks were flushed and his hair was plastered to his forehead. When Merlin reached a hand to brush it out of Arthur’s eyes, Arthur caught his wrist and planted a kiss on Merlin’s pulse.

“Not that I’m complaining, mind you. It’s not everyone who gets a morning blowjob from the bloody senator; but what was that about?” Arthur asked, sitting up.

Merlin looked up at the lampshade on the nightstand until it turned itself on, causing Arthur to groan in protest against the light, covering his face with his arms.

 “Hey!”

 “No, look,” Merlin said, ducking his head under Arthur’s nose, he parted his hair with his hands. “See?”

“It’s a grey hair, Merlin. It was bound to happen,” Arthur said, non-impressed.

But Merlin just nodded happily at him; he was aware he probably resembled an eager puppy, but he didn’t mind.

 “And why is that?”

Arthur was frowning at Merlin, probably wondering why the hell they were having that conversation in such an ungodly hour.

“Because that’s what happens, people get old. Everybody… ages.” And it seemed like the penny had finally dropped. “Oh, my God! You’re not – you --” he gapped at Merlin. Then he shook his head. “I don’t know how I feel about this. I mean, I was so sure I would have you forever. I don’t think I like this, Merlin.”

Merlin waved at his worries dismissively, giving Arthur a peck on the cheek before getting off the bed.

“Now we know we can grow old together,” he said as he dressed himself. He tossed Arthur a pair of sweatpants. “Get dress, I’m starving. I can’t wait forever for breakfast.” Arthur glared at him.

Merlin left the room laughing.

\---

“Who wants pancakes?” Merlin asked loud enough to be heard above the sounds of that rainbow torture of a show people called Backyardigans. “Come on, Alex. You can watch TV later.”

A big, sorrowful ‘ah’ came from the living room when Arthur turned off the television. A few seconds later he and Alex joined Merlin for breakfast.

Arthur was all ready for work. He was wearing his favourite tie, the red one Merlin had given him last Christmas. Ever since Arthur had gone back to work as a detective he practically demanded Merlin was to give him ties at any special occasion. Since Arthur had always been rich there weren’t many material things he desired anyway, so Merlin was happy to oblige.

As for Alex, he still had to put on his school uniform. Merlin looked at their son, the boy and Arthur were so alike in appearance that, if Merlin didn’t know better, he would advise Arthur to do a DNA test.  But as it happens, Alex’s golden hair and blue eyes were just a coincidence.

Merlin knew that because a) Arthur had never been with a woman, and b) they only met Alex on the day they were to take him home.

It had been three years ago. Alex was only two then. When Gwen and Lance had discovered they couldn’t have a baby the traditional way either, Arthur had proposed the adoption for them. Turns out the idea had stuck on Merlin’s mind as well.

Hunith had fallen in love with the boy the moment she had laid eyes on him, and so did the Morgana and their friends. Gwen and Lance had adopted a Chinese girl one year older than Alex. Merlin was happy, they could grow up together.

“Aunt Gana sent another card,” Alex said, bringing Merlin back from his memories.

“Is that so? Where is it?” Arthur asked while he served coffee for himself and then for Merlin.

Alex’s eyes flickered gold for a second and a post card came flying from the countertop to the table where they were eating.

“Hey, you’re getting better!” Arthur congratulated Alex, messing the boy’s hair in the process.

“We’ve been practicing.” Merlin shared a smile with his son, and then he turned to Arthur who was reading the postcard. “What does it says?”

“Married life it’s a blessing. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? Gwaine and I have been --” Whatever it said, it made Arthur choke on his coffee. He coughed for a while before talking again. “Jesus! This woman needs some filter.”

Merlin agreed, but he didn’t say anything. Alex couldn’t read that well yet, anyway; so he wasn’t worried.

“What is she doing?” Alex asked looking from one parent do the other.

“She’s just – walking around... visiting places… with Gwaine… her husband,” Merlin tried to explain, or stall, the best way he could. Luckily that answer seemed to satisfy Alex; he turned his attention to the food in front of him.

When they finished breakfast Merlin went to get dressed while Arthur helped Alex with his uniform. They all met again at the front of the house, it was Arthur’s turn to take their son to school.

“I see you guys later, ah,” Merlin said, kissing both his boys on the cheek. Arthur smiled at him, Alex made a face.

Looking at them there, Merlin had never felt so glad with the prospect of dying. He couldn’t imagine living a lifetime, an _eternal_ lifetime, without those two.

After waving them goodbye from the car, Merlin started to go through the things he had to do for the day. It had been four years since he started his political career. And sure, he missed TV, but he had already managed to achieve some changes and there was still a lot to be done.

And Merlin felt more determinate than ever, not just because he had the future of his son to think about, but also because he knew he didn’t have all of eternity to make things right. He better not waste any time.

  

THE END

 

 

**Camelot Talk Show Playlist:**

        **In My Veins** \-  Andrew Belle;  
        **Shake it Out** \- Florence + The Machine;  
        **The Enemy** – Mumford  & Sons;  
        **The Enemy** – Andrew Belle;  
        **Flaws** \- Bastille;  
      **Fix You** – Coldplay;  
        **Who We Are** – Imagine Dragons;  
        **Belong** – Cary Brothers;  
        **Weapons**  –The Daylights;  
        **Human** – Christina Perri;  
      **Safe & Sound** – Taylor Swift.

        [**_[Listen]_**](http://8tracks.com/veronicafercard/camelot-talk-show)

**Author's Note:**

> I just like to point out I have no idea how British politics works, I don't know if they have senator or anything, but if this story can have magic it can have a British senator.


End file.
